5G: Are We There Yet?

The wireless technology upgrade known as 5G has arrived, or at least it would seem so based on all the advertising and hoopla.  Or has it? 

A recent dispute involving Verizon Communications and AT&T and federal aviation regulators suggests there is still a little way to go. At issue has been a chunk of the 5G spectrum, known as C-Band, that was auctioned off to wireless operators for $81 billion a year ago and was originally set to be used in part on Dec. 5. 

But the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation requested--and received--a number of postponements, citing safety concerns, to the apparent frustration of the wireless operators. Nicholas Jasinski of Barron's explains: 

The new issue is that aircraft radio altimeters use frequencies in the 4.2 GHz to 4.4 GHz band, right next to the C-Band, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The devices shoot radio waves toward the ground and measure the amount of time it takes for the rebound to return to the aircraft, producing an estimate of the plane’s altitude. The federal aviation regulators are worried that the newly deployed C-Band spectrum will interfere with radio altimeters, preventing planes from landing safely during periods of low visibility.

The delay to the C-Band deployment will now be only another two weeks. And there are apparently simple fixes, experts say--so all those annoying  commercials with Kate McKinnon will not have been in vain. 

Several European countries including France have already dealt with the issue successfully, and the result in the U.S. is likely to be no different. That solution is technically achievable and should be reached soon, with minimal final impact to Verizon and AT&T’s nationwide 5G networks. T-Mobile, meanwhile, is hardly affected: the company’s already live nationwide 5G network is built on mid-band spectrum licenses it acquired from Sprint, in the 2.2GHz range, far from the radio altimeter bands.

Still, it's remarkable that it came to last-minute postponements and adjustments, given that the 5G rollout has been years in the making.  

"This shouldn’t have been a problem," Harold Feld, senior vice president for the public-interest group Public Knowledge, told The Verge. "Since the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] started this rule-making in 2019, we’ve known this was coming. The steps that are necessary to address this are fairly straightforward. It’s unfathomable.” 

Investors don't appear to be bothered much by the regulatory snags -- indeed just the opposite. Shares of AT&T -- a Barron's top stock for 2022 -- have climbed 9.3% in the past month, while Verizon's shares are up 4%, compared with a 5.7% gain in the S&P 500. (T-Mobile US is up just 1.1%).

Read the rest of Nick's article here.