December 17, 2021
The nonsensical FAA claim that 5G wireless base stations will disrupt aviation activities is holding back the rollout of the single most important new technology for U.S. consumers and employers. The Biden administration needs to take charge and put this bureaucratic squabble to rest.
Why is the FAA’s warning that 5G deployment in C-Band spectrum would interfere with radio altimeter function nonsense? Because altimeters and 5G already safely coexist in 40 countries around the world, countries with much more limited guard bands around altimeter spectrum than that mandated by the FCC. The 220-megahertz minimum guard band the FCC has imposed is more than double that of Japan, where 90,000 5G base stations are in operation. If the FAA’s allegations were valid, airplanes would be falling out of the sky now.
Why does this interagency spat matter? Because every six-month delay in deploying 5G erases $25 billion in benefits, benefits that include millions of new jobs and a $1.5 trillion increase in US GDP by 2030. Meanwhile, China, our biggest economic and military competitor, continues to forge ahead with their 5G program with full government support. Losing the race to 5G to China would be a devastating blow for our nation.
The FCC, the experts in spectrum matters, has based their decisions on years of research. The FAA has only waded in at the last moment, basing their claims on a single, highly disputed study that they have yet to fully share with other agencies and the public.
As this article by an independent wireless and spectrum expert points out, the FAA’s claim doesn’t hold water and airlines, who have enough problems of their own to worry about, have only tepidly joined in. He believes it is yet another example of the FAA putting its own interests above the public good and trying to exercise a veto authority over other federal agencies that they do not have.
Almost everything improves with 5G – public safety, business, education, health care – the list goes on and on. The FAA needs to drop this non-issue and let Americans receive the benefits of 5G.
