The two companies will "voluntarily pause" the
commercial rollout "to further assess any impact on aviation safety
technologies," the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal
Communications Commission said in a joint statement.
The two companies had planned to begin using the 5G network
on December 5, after spending tens of billions of dollars to purchase licenses.
But aviation regulators have worried about the possible
interference of the signals with flight safety equipment.
The agencies pledged "to coordinate closely to ensure
that the United States keeps pace with the rest of the world in deploying
next-generation communications technologies safely and without undue
delay."
The FAA on Tuesday issued a special bulletin to aircraft
manufacturers and radio altimeter manufacturers recommending analysis of
potential interference at the 3.7 to 3.8 Ghz levels, as well as at frequencies
between 4.2 and 4.4 GHz.
Airlines should alert pilots to the "potential
degradation" of safety systems "dependent upon radio
altimeters," the FAA said.
"There have not yet been proven reports of harmful
interference due to wireless broadband operations internationally, although
this issue is continuing to be studied," the FAA said.
AT&T said it would push back deployment to January 5.
"It is critical that these discussions be informed by
the science and the data," the company said in statement. "That is
the only path to enabling experts and engineers to assess whether any
legitimate co-existence issues exist." © Reuters
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