Aviation Orgs, Lawmaker Protest FCC 5G Auction

Despite protests from a cross-section of industry organizations and a key lawmaker, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission Tuesday kicked off its largest mid-band 5G spectrum auction to date, offering 5,684 flexible-use overlay licenses for 280 megahertz of mid-band spectrum in the 3.7-3.98 GHz band near the 4.2-4.4 GHz band used by aviation.

“This is a big day for American consumers and U.S. leadership in 5G,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in the December 8 announcement of the spectrum. “By freeing up this wide swath of critical mid-band spectrum, the FCC is paving the way for Americans to receive fast 5G wireless services.”

However, that auction, which began at 10 a.m., faces strong objections from aviation organizations, 15 of which yesterday wrote the agency to remind it that an RTCA study revealed “a major risk that 5G telecommunications systems in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band will cause harmful interference to radar altimeters on all types of civil aircraft” and warning that “moving forward with the auction without fully addressing the potential for harmful interference to radar altimeters, and thus the threat to aviation safety, would be a disservice to the safety of the traveling public and put our nation’s airlines, business and general aviation, and helicopter operations at risk.”

The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon), bolstered their appeal, calling on the FCC to postpone the auction. “[The RTCA’s] findings are alarming," DeFazio said in a December 7 letter to Pai. "They not only align with earlier research identifying harmful effects of 5G networks to radio altimeters, but they reflect a clear need for the FCC to return to the drawing board with this premature plan.

“There is no question that additional study is needed to understand the full extent and severity of 5G interference with radio altimeters and whether any mitigations are feasible—or even possible—to ensure flight safety... We must never take a chance with aviation safety—and at no point should commercial interests be placed above it.”