5G Trial Network Cancelled after National Academies of Science Releases “report analyzing interference issues”

By B.N. Frank

5G warnings and opposition has limited, slowed, and/or stopped deployment in various locations including near some U.S. airports due to dangerous interference issues with aviation equipment (see 1, 2, 3). Of course, warnings about 5G interference issues are not new and not isolated to aviation equipment. In 2020, utility companies and associations filed lawsuits against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for not protecting utility infrastructure from potential electrical interference issues with 5G (see 1, 2). Telecom provider SpaceX has complained that Dish’s 5G satellites will cause interference issues affecting Starlink satellite service. DirecTV and RS Submit have also complained about satellite interference issues. The Department of Defense (DoD) has also been trying to resolve potential 5G network interference issues with military radar. In fact, last month a bipartisan group of senators requested that the FCC reconsider harmful interference risks with associated Ligado’s network before allowing it to be activated. The good news is that Ligado has now decided own its own to cancel trial network plans, perhaps because of a recently released report.

From RCR Wireless:

Ligado cancels trial network plans

By Kelly Hill

Ligado Networks has cancelled plans to begin a 5G trial network that would have operated in northern Virginia and was expected to begin operations shortly.

Ligado had planned to begin operations in airwaves at 1526–1536 MHz by September 30, according to a status update that it filed with the Federal Communications Commission earlier this year.

In a letter to the FCC from last week, however, Ligado said that “it is not intending to move forward with its trial deployment in northern Virginia. Ligado has reached this decision to allow time for the company’s discussions with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, acting in its statutory role on behalf of the Executive Branch, to resolve in a fair and reasonable manner issues relating to the government’s ongoing use of Ligado’s terrestrial spectrum.”

The news comes in the wake of a recently released report that examined the impacts that terrestrial impacts in Ligado’s spectrum will have on incumbent users. Users of adjacent bands, including the Department of Defense, have long argued that the change to Ligado’s operations allowed by the FCC in a unanimous 2020 decision would result in impacts to their operations — in particular, high-precision GPS receivers. As a result, Congress asked the National Academies of Science to put together a report analyzing interference issues in that spectrum (which you can read here).

The report’s three conclusions were:

-That of the two prevailing proposed approaches to evaluating harmful interference concerns (either signal-to-noise ratio interference protection criteria or another approach based on device-by-device measurement of GPS position error), neither of them “effectively mitigates the risk of harmful interference” and both “have a role to play.”

-That, “Based on the results of tests conducted to inform the Ligado proceeding, most commercially produced general navigation, timing, cellular, or certified aviation GPS receivers will not experience significant harmful interference from Ligado emissions as authorized by the FCC. High-precision receivers are the most vulnerable receiver class, with the largest proportion of units tested that will experience significant harmful interference from Ligado operations as authorized by the FCC.” The report additionally found that receivers could be built that were resistant to interference from Ligado’s operations.

Of course, there have been several other significant issues reported regarding 5G deployment including cybersecurity (see 1, 2), health and environmental risks (see 1, 2, 3). Nevertheless, the FCC (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and other American government and state agencies and committees (see1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) have continued to promote and fund 5G deployment and densification as well as that of 4G and public Wi-Fi (which also poses known risks).

In regard to additional dangerous wireless technology interference risks, they also exist with Wi-Fi 6E. Despite warnings from broadcast associations, public safety agencies and utility groups, the FCC doesn’t seem interested in doing anything about that either. It’s no wonder the agency was labeled as being “captured” years ago.