AT&T begins 5G C-band deployment initially limited to 8 U.S. cities

U.S. telecom operator AT&T announced that it will begin expanding its 5G service in eight U.S. cities on Wednesday: Austin, Dallas Fort Worth, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Jacksonville, Orlando and South Florida. The scale of the expansion is so small because AT&T and Verizon, after facing pressure from airlines, voluntarily restricted the activation of C-band spectrum around airports.

In a press release announcing the expansion, Chris Sambar, at&T's executive vice president of technology operations, said, "Today's introduction began in a limited segment of the 8-city region of the United States, and it will expand rapidly this year as we make a well-thought-out and efficient deployment. With 17 C-Band-enabled devices already available online and in our store, you can start experiencing these speeds today."

Just a day before Verizon and AT&T planned to launch 5G on Jan. 19, major airlines warned against activating 5G towers for fear of "catastrophic damage" to flights operating across the country. Air India, Emirates, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways cancelled some flights ahead of schedule because they feared the 5G expansion could interfere with the radar altimeters the planes used for low-visibility landings. Prior to the launch, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) struck an agreement with two carriers to establish 50 buffer zones, and AT&T and Verizon would shut down transmitters for 6 months near airports with high traffic and frequent low visibility.