Technology tangle: On 5G services and flight disruptions

The roll-out of 5G services near airports is posing a challenge to airlines

The fact that the world’s largest economy is now faced with the risk of large-scale domestic and international air travel disruptions as a result of the relatively belated roll-out of 5G telecom services points to the peculiar problems of the U.S. market, including the particular frequencies allotted there for 5G. South Korea, China and Japan and several European nations have already successfully rolled out 5G services and the U.S. telcos have cited the lack of problems in these jurisdictions as evidence that the FAA and airlines need to do more to find solutions to the deployment of the wireless technology near airports. The FAA on its website has pointed to the specifics of the proposed 5G roll-out in the U.S. with a comparison to the situation in France and asserted that some key differences pose challenges. For one, the aviation regulator contends planned buffer zones for U.S. airports only protect the last 20 seconds of flight, while in France the last 96 seconds of flight are protected from any interruption from 5G signals. Also, 5G power levels are lower in France, with even the planned temporary nationwide lower power levels in the U.S. still expected to be 2.5 times more powerful. U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration will have their task cut out in pushing to hammer out a long-term solution to this impasse so as to minimise any further disruption to the already pandemic-hit global travel and trade sectors.

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