Verizon & AT&T Voluntarily Agree to Delay Some 5G Deployment until 2023 “as air carriers work to retrofit airplanes”

By B.N. Frank

Opposition to 5G is worldwide due to various significant safety issues associated with it. This has limited, slowed, and/or stopped deployment in some locations, including near U.S. airports due to unresolved aviation risks associated with activation.

From CNBC:

Verizon, AT&T agree to delay some 5G deployment until mid-2023

Key Points

The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that Verizon and AT&T have voluntarily agreed to delay some C-Band 5G usage until July 2023 as air carriers work to retrofit airplanes to ensure they will not face interference.
Concerns that the 5G service could interfere with airplane altimeters led to disruptions at some U.S. airports earlier this year.
The two carriers previously agreed in January to delay through July 5 switching on some wireless towers and depowering others near airports.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that Verizon Communications and AT&T have voluntarily agreed to delay some C-Band 5G usage until July 2023 as air carriers work to retrofit airplanes to ensure they will not face interference.

The two carriers agreed in January to delay through July 5 switching on some wireless towers and depowering others near airports. Verizon said Friday the new agreement will allow it to “lift the voluntary limitations on our 5G network deployment around airports in a staged approach over the coming months meaning even more consumers and businesses will benefit from the tremendous capabilities of 5G technology.”

AT&T said with the FAA it had “developed a more tailored approach to controlling signal strength around runways that allows us to activate more towers and increase signal strength.” AT&T added that it had voluntarily “chosen in good faith to implement these more tailored precautionary measures so that airlines have additional time to retrofit equipment.”

Concerns that the 5G service could interfere with airplane altimeters, which give data on a plane’s height above the ground and are crucial for bad-weather landing, led to disruptions at some U.S. airports earlier this year.

In recent months, the Federal Aviation Administration has been urging airlines to complete retrofits of some airplane radio altimeters.

Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen on Wednesday urged the chief executives of major U.S. airlines to move quickly to address risks from a 5G wireless rollout by installing filters on radio altimeters, in a bid to avoid potential disruptions at key airports from next month.

Airlines for America, an industry trade group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and others, said at an FAA meeting Friday they learned “the vast majority” of members fleet of 4,800 total aircraft “would need to be retrofitted by July 2023″ and raised questions if that is feasible. “Given that the FAA has not even approved solutions nor have manufacturers manufactured these products for most of this fleet, it is not at all clear that carriers can meet what appears to be an arbitrary deadline.”

The FAA said Friday “filters and replacement units for the mainline commercial fleet should be available on a schedule that would permit the work to be largely completed by July 2023. After that time, the wireless companies expect to operate their networks in urban areas with minimal restrictions.”

Airlines CEOs on Jan. 17 had warned of an impending “catastrophic” aviation crisis that could have grounded almost all traffic because of the 5G deployment.

While proponents continue to glorify 5G, so far, for the most part, service has received poor reviews (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), even being described just last month as a “complete hot mess.” Additionally, since 2017 doctors and scientists have asked for moratoriums on Earth and in space (see 1, 2) and the majority of scientists oppose deployment. Since 2018 there have also been reports of people and animals experiencing symptoms and illnesses after 5G was activated (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ). Some researchers have also claimed that activation may be contributing to COVID-19 infections as well as hundreds of thousands if not millions of bird deaths.

In 2019, telecom executives gave U.S. congressional testimony that they had NO independent scientific evidence that 5G is safe. Of course, research has already determined there are health risks associated with 5G exposure as well as exposure to 4G and other sources of wireless Wi-Fi radiation (see 1, 2) and electromagnetic fields (aka “Electrosmog”). In fact, last year a federal court ruled in favor of organizations and petitioners that sued the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for NOT adequately protecting Americans from wireless radiation exposure from 5G and other sources of wireless.