Telecommunications industry observers have recently flawed the Federal Aviation Administration’s call to delay the introduction of 5G on the newly acquired C-band spectrum on the grounds that the new service could disrupt radio altimeters used in aircraft.
In their argument, the observers claimed that the Federal Communications Commission would not authorize the use of the C-Band spectrum from 3.7 to 3.89 GHz only after its investigation showed that it would not affect the aviation sector. Moreover, the FCC called for a 220 MHz band to be left unused to protect altimeters from undue interference.
Verizon and AT&T plan to use the C-band within the 3.7-3.98 GHz spectrum to deliver faster speed and provide greater coverage. Meredith Attwell Baker, President and CEO of CTIA, shared their view on the decision: “5G signals operate in spectrum adjacent to aviation equipment. US airlines fly in and out of these countries every day. If interference were possible, we would have seen it long before now. Nevertheless, we’ve added a layer of protection in the United States, called a guard band, that is hundreds of times greater than the separation that exists between wireless and other critical spectrum users.”