The FAA Dishonors Its Impressive Safety Record When It Impugns 5G

By Roslyn Layton. Excerpts:

"entrenched industries using federal spectrum and their regulators want to delay and deter new technologies of commercial spectrum licensed by the FCC.  The FAA could unscrupulously conflate safety with reality to get its way, feigning a Y2K-style crisis with each subsequent generation (“G”) of mobile wireless technology."

"The Commerce Department, National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have challenged 5G in the 24 GHz band saying wireless systems challenges their obsolete satellites. For decades, the Department of Education which did nothing in the 2.5 GHz band, a valuable piece of spectrum dedicated for Education Broadband Services, bristled when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved to modernize the rules for its use"

"the Department of Defense (DoD), which if it had its druthers, would likely end all commercial spectrum auctions because it perceives a loss of control. DoD’s ongoing dispute against the FCC and wireless operator Ligado has become legendary for its exaggeration. An official DoD microsite claims Ligado’s low power US only network yet to be deployed could have “global [emphasis added] ramifications to U.S. national security, commercial and civil sectors, the economy, and those who rely on this service in their everyday lives.” In practical terms, the Pentagon’s hyperbole translate to military GPS receivers so fragile that they could be brought down by a wireless transmission at the power level of a light bulb."

"With speeds that top 100 Mbps, 5G can compete directly with wireline technologies to help close the digital divide and deliver broadband and video to homes and offices. These properties make it the cost-effective solution for high speed broadband in rural areas. C-band frequencies are in high demand. Last year’s auction of scant 280 MHz of C-band spectrum, repurposing outdated satellite technologies for newer, more efficient, and more valuable mobile applications, earned a record $94 billion."

"America’s 5G competitors China, Japan, and South Korea set aside more than 2-3 times as much C-band spectrum for 5G."

"the C-band rules have been in place for more than a year with the FAA being engaged along the way. That the FAA raises the flag now, at the 11th hour, just as 5G goes live in the C-band network is desperate and suspicious. In fact 5G has been operating since 2019 with no problems to aviation. More than 100 5G networks are in progress across 40 countries in the C-band and related bands."

"In the past 20 years, commercial aviation fatalities in the U.S. have decreased by 95 percent as measured by fatalities per 100 million passengers. The FAA attributes this success largely to new aircraft and real world safety practices developed in partnership between regulators, manufacturers, operators, and workers."