Will 5G come in the way of India's flight safety?

Last February, the two biggest telecom operators in the US -- AT&T and Verizon -- spent a whopping $76 billion to buy mid-range spectrum so they can start offering 5G services. After spending billions more to set up the infrastructure for internet speeds 10 times faster than 4G, the operators were gearing up to launch the service in December. But this date was first pushed back to January 5th and later again to January 19th.   

This delay was due to concerns that the new set of radio frequencies they purchased, called the C-Band, could interfere with a critical plane instrument that helps pilots land a plane. 

A day before the new technology was set to go live, airlines in the US warned of a catastrophic aviation crisis that could render a number of wide-body aircraft unusable and strand thousands of Americans overseas. 

The panic came to a head when international airlines like Air India, Emirates and Japan Airlines cancelled flights to some American cities that were scheduled to arrive on January 19th, citing uncertainties because of the 5G rollout.

Let us understand what the airline industry is worried about.

The US aviation regulator warned of a potential interference with aircraft’s radar altimeters, which measure how far above the ground a plane is travelling by bouncing radio waves off the ground. They are crucial for landing in low-visibility situations caused by rain or fog. 

Altimeter helps in automated landings and also activates reverse thrust to slow the plane upon touchdown. The US regulator feared that the instruments may give wrong readings if its radio waves don’t bounce back from the ground because of 5G interference. 

Altimeters operate in the 4.2-4.4 GHz range while 5G services in the US were rolled out on the 3.7-3.9 GHz range. The concern is that 5G frequencies come too close to spectrum band use by altimeters.

Meanwhile, in India, the government plans to auction 5G airwaves in the 3.2 to 3.6 GHz band, a lower frequency than the US, providing for greater elbow room when it comes to dealing with aviation safety.   

Telcos in the US say the fears are overblown. For now, Verizon and AT&T have voluntarily agreed to suspend 5G deployment at key US airports, essentially creating buffer zones.

The two companies blasted the US Federal Aviation Administration for its lack of preparedness as they kicked off their new service. 

C-Band 5G has been deployed in about 40 other countries where the technology safely coexists with airline travel. European countries, South Korea and Australia and the UAE have not reported any aviation interference issues after 5G deployment. For instance, France mitigated risks reducing 5G power levels around airports.

The US has now cleared five altimeters for use in certain plane models. This allows 62% of the US aviation fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports where wireless companies deployed 5G C-band. With that, Air India has resumed its flights to the US.

Back home in India, a financial daily reported yesterday that Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) may soon issue a statement saying that 5G roll out is unlikely to cause any disruption to flight operations in India.

With better cooperation between the industry and regulators, India can avoid a situation where airlines and telcos are at loggerheads with each other ahead of 5G rollout, like what happened in the US.

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