5G technology deployment in the US postponed to January 19, say from the airline industry

The US airlines, which threatened to sue the telephone operators AT&T and Verizon to ask that they delay the deployment of 5G technology, announced that they had reached an agreement in principle for a delay of the implementation until January 19.

According to representatives of the airline industry, a last minute draft agreement was reached first with the operator AT&T, then with Verizon, to delay again by 15 days the establishment of new 5G frequency bands.

An AT&T spokeswoman confirmed that it had reached an agreement with the Ministry of Transportation and “he accepted two more weeks for the deployment of the service ”.

The two operators “They agree not to deploy 5G technology on January 5, that is to say on Wednesday, but on January 19”Said an airline industry official.

Verizon and AT&T had rejected this Sunday a request from the authorities to postpone the start-up of the 5G network again.

While airlines invoke possible interference with devices on board aircraft in particular, the entry into service of 5G, initially scheduled for December 5, had already been postponed and was due to be effective this Wednesday.

“No one has signed anything yet, but we are currently pursuing the lawsuit for this two week period.”Said a representative of the airlines.

The companies were preparing to file a lawsuit to obtain this delay and technical modifications in the deployment of the high-speed connection network.

During this “two week break“, Changes made to airport facilities in particular must be reviewed by the federal aviation regulatory authority of the United States, the FAA,”to ensure that they meet all the safety conditions for flights “.

The 3.7 to 3.8 GHz frequency bands were awarded to AT&T and Verizon in February after a bid for tens of billions of dollars.

Faced with concerns about potential interference problems with devices that measure altitude on airplanes, the FAA had issued new directives that limited the use of these devices on airplanes in certain situations.

But US airlines have protested against the possible costs that the application of the new provisions would entail and have asked the authorities to quickly find a solution.