AT&T, Verizon Reject Another Regulatory Demand To Postpone 5G Rollout

Two Telecom giants, AT&T and Verizon on Sunday vehemently rejected the demand by U.S regulators that they should postpone their 5G rollout that was scheduled to be released this week.

The Chief Executive Officers of the two U.S-based companies, John Stankey and Hans Vestberg in a joint letter sent to the U.S. regulators expressed utter rejection to the demand that they shift their 5G rollout to a later date.

The regulators have raised concerns over the possibility of the soon-to-be-launched 5G services meddling with critical aircraft electronics, significant for take-off and landing of flights.

AT&T and Verizon had already both postponed the 5G deployment for a month after it initially set to be rolled January 5, 2021.

The Insider is reporting that the two operators, despite insisting that the rollout will begin on the new rescheduled date, are currently examining the new regulatory demand, barring their enthusiasm to start the rollout using the C-band frequencies.

The C-band frequencies gives a channel  that allows radio waves to reach a set speed and long distances, in the process bringing about an accelerated 5G speed compared to the typical LTE spectrum velocity.

The process can happen even without having to suppress distance restrictions following a millimeter-wave of the fifth generation.

The two companies Chief Executives in the letter sent to the regulators asserted that they would carry on with their 5G services throughout this week, with the Financial Times reporting that the telecom operators will “adopt so-called exclusion zones around airports, similar to specifications in place in France”.

The CEOs in their letter averred, that ‘the laws of physics are the same in the United States and France’, emphasizing that both telcos have cumulatively invested almost $80 billion to acquire 5G spectrum from the authorities and billions more for the associated rollout.

The letter from the two company’s helmsmen is coming in the wake of the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) request, demanding both carriers postpone their 5G deployment for another two weeks, after being set for January 5th.

“Failure to reach a solution by January 5 will force the U.S. aviation sector to take steps to protect the safety of the traveling public,” U.S. transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, and the FAA administrator, Steve Dickson, wrote in a letter, December 31st.

The letter added that these measures “will result in widespread and unacceptable disruption as air planes divert to other cities or flights are cancelled’’.