With a plan in place to address the Federal Aviation Administration's concerns, an AT&T Inc. executive said the company stands ready to deploy a key portion of mid-band spectrum with no negative impact from its recent concessions.
In a recent letter to the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc. pledged to take additional steps to minimize energy coming from 5G base stations, especially those near public airports and heliports. The move came after the FAA released a bulletin detailing its concerns with wireless equipment operating in the 3.7 GHz-3.98 GHz band, a portion of the C-band and the possibility of interference with flight equipment.
Verizon and AT&T committed to keeping the new protections in place for six months, meaning they will expire July 6, 2022, "unless credible evidence exists that real-world interference would occur if the mitigations were relaxed," according to the letter.
"I've got a lot of confidence that we'll work through this," AT&T Communications CEO Jeff McElfresh said during a Nov. 30 investor conference. "This isn't the first time that we've had to coexist and make some modifications to our power levels or antenna tilts."
McElfresh added that investor concerns over the back-and-forth with the FAA have been "overblown," noting that AT&T will only have to modify a small percentage of its cell sites — namely those in and around airports or helipads or final approach slopes where aircrafts land.
Previously, Verizon and AT&T agreed to delay their rollout of C-band spectrum by one month to Jan. 5, 2022, to address the FAA's concerns.
New Street Research analyst Blair Levin wrote in a research note that the letter signifies that the carriers will turn on service as planned Jan. 5, 2022, and the commitments outlined in the letter will have little impact on the carriers financially.
"The outstanding question remains whether the FAA is now willing to signal that its concerns have been met," Levin wrote. "The FAA has problematic incentives in terms of resolving this dispute, but we think the letter, in conjunction with significant support, we believe, from the White House and the Hill, should move the FAA to declare victory and move on."
The FAA initially called Verizon and AT&T's letter "an important and encouraging step," and it believed that aviation and 5G C-band wireless service can "safely co-exist."
In their letter, Verizon and AT&T noted the companies have not found any reason for concern regarding C-band equipment's potential impact on air safety. They cite the use of 3400Mhz-3800 MHz band equipment in Europe for over three years as well as existing equipment in the U.S.
"Radio altimeters also currently coexist near other high-power radio uses in the United States without reports of harmful interference to radio altimeters," the letter said. "Two different Navy radars, for example, operate just below the C-band at power levels that are 10,000 times greater than 5G base stations."
Verizon spent over $45.45 billion in the FCC's February 2021 auction for 3,511 licenses, almost 2.5x the company's capital expenditures in 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. AT&T was the second-biggest spender in the auction, paying $23.41 billion for 1,621 licenses. The FCC recently concluded the bidding round of another mid-band spectrum auction, but there is speculation that Verizon dropped out in an early round due to its heavy spending in the C-band auction.
Mid-band spectrum is important for 5G networks because high-band spectrum cannot travel long distances or penetrate certain surfaces and low-band spectrum has become crowded due to 4G wireless services.
In their letter to the FCC, Verizon and AT&T said C-band spectrum "will be the backbone of our 5G networks for many years to come."
