The U.S. government has asked AT&T and Verizon to delay the launch of new 5G services

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Commissioner Steve Dickson sent a joint letter asking at LEA and Verizon, two communications carriers, to delay the new 5G wireless service scheduled for Jan. 5 to address aviation safety.

In the letter, disclosed by Reuters, Buttigieg and Dickson asked AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg to delay for at least 2 weeks in "Proposals for Near-Term Solutions to Advance 5G Deployment and Safe Flight Operations" in the C-band. The aviation industry and the FAA have raised concerns about potential interference with 5G and sensitive aircraft electronics, such as radio altimeters, which could disrupt flights.

"We ask your company to continue to suspend the introduction of commercial C-band services for a short period of no more than two weeks after the currently scheduled January 5 deployment date," the letter said. Both Verizon and AT&T said they received the letter and are reviewing it. Earlier Friday, the two companies accused the aviation industry of seeking to hijack C-band spectrum deployments until the wireless industry agreed to pay for any outdated height-gauge upgrades.

Buttigieg and Dickson say that under the framework, commercial C-band services will begin in January as planned, with the exception of certain circumstances around priority airports. The FAA and the aviation industry will identify priority airports, "and the buffer zone will allow aviation operations to continue safely as the FAA completes its assessment of the potential for interference." "

The government will work to identify "mitigation measures for all priority airports" to enable most "large commercial aircraft to operate safely under all conditions." This will allow for "rolling deployment around priority airports" – with the aim of ensuring that it is launched by March 31, unless unforeseen problems arise.