Welcome back to Cheddar news. So A T. And T.
And Verizon are hitting the brakes on its five G.
Rollout Near some airports that was said to be deployed
tomorrow.
They did not say how long the delay will be either.
It comes after the biggest airlines
in the U. S. Sent a joint letter to the biden administration.
The ceo of american, Delta and United
And other airlines for that matter warned the deployment of 5G could lead
to an aviation crisis
here.
Now to discuss his telecom expert and founder and
president of vertical consultants Hugh Odom and Hugh,
can you tell us more about what was said in that letter
to the biden administration?
Well,
the aviation industry came out and as you mentioned was a joint effort between the
FAA and the totality of the aviation industry
to say that this could cause catastrophic.
That was their worst, catastrophic disruptions in the aviation industry.
If five G was rolled out as planned,
this meant delays and cancelations of thousands of flights across the country.
There had already been restrictions put on several airports,
dozens if not hundreds of airports around the country saying you had
to monitor your altimeter which is for landing uh if five G.
Was in the area. So this is going to be a major impact.
We're also seeing even today uh certain international flights
are getting canceled from coming into the U.
S. As a result of this.
Now it did not take long for 18 teen Verizon to respond
with the companies announcing today. They will delay activating five G.
Near certain airports. So can you share
some more details about H. T. And Verizon's response to the letter and how it's
five G. Rollout will now be impacted.
Well A T. And T.
And Verizon as you mentioned responded and saying look they will not
turn on five G within a two mile radius of these airports.
Now there was no time frame for when they might turn it on.
This was one of the things that the aviation industry was asking for for continued to
lay of them not rolling out the issue
for the wireless industry more particularly A T.
And T. And Verizon is that This is causing them issues.
And a lot of ways from from consumers to businesses who are going to rely upon this 5G.
Service.
And they've been promising it and they don't have a real answer
for when this will possibly be back and be up and activated.
So what are the concerns that the airline industry has? About five G.
Specifically C. Band?
Sure. Well 18 team Verizon paid $80 billion for C.
Band access and what the aviation industry is saying there is possible and I
want to emphasize the word possible impact
or inter interference with the plane's altimeters.
And the altimeter basically controls or determines.
I should say the altitude shows the altitude
of the plane is getting close to landing and
this is more particularly use when the plane
is in foggy conditions or bad weather conditions.
and the aviation industry is saying look we're having
we believe there could be some issues with this,
their interference causing planes to not be able to
land in certain airports because of those weather conditions.
So we've been hearing a lot from 18 teen Verizon but there
also is a big player when it comes to five G.
And that's T.
Mobile,
why haven't we heard anything about their five G
infrastructure when it comes to these concerns from the
F. A.
Well that's a great that's a great question. T.
Mobile is working on a different bandwidth than the C.
Band that's currently being trying to be used by A T. And T. And Verizon.
The issue for T.
Mobile is it that or the non issue is that
they're kind of exempt from this whole uh controversy?
And the problem for A T. And T.
And Verizon is they're falling further and further behind T.
Mobile because they were out of the gate first
and now there are certain restrictions on A T.
And T. And Verizon.
So when it comes to them falling behind, what could that mean to their bottom lines,
what can that mean to their user account?
Because it seems like T.
Mobile is running away with it because they're using a different technology.
Do you think that 18 teams rising could actually catch
up or do you think they're too far behind.
I think they can catch up but they have to get get five G rolled out. 100%.
And for elijah, for reasons you mentioned they the name of the game is subscribers.
And if you have limitations on what you can do,
if you're in a T and T or Verizon customer where you
can use five G or the level of five G you get,
then you're going to turn to another carrier this particularly T mobile
to get a higher Higher production or efficiency with regards to 5G.
Something that something that AT&T or Verizon may not be able to offer
so that my administration has said that it is talking with the FAA
FCC wireless carriers and airlines to find a solution to this issue.
Do you expect all sides to eventually agreed to a solution?
And if so, what can that solution look like?
Well,
the first thing to find a solution is to find
out what the problem is and this is what the,
the telecommunication industry more to be a T and T.
And Verizon are scratching their heads.
They're saying, look,
the aviation industry is known for over two years of this rollout
and we still don't have a definitive Problem that's been identified.
So we can calibrate 5G or some other way
calibrate against this this issue to resolve this, resolve this possible problem.
So I think the first thing to buy,
administration needs to do is get everybody in the room and say look,
aviation industry identify the problem.
Uh Wireless industry come up with a solution
that's the first step in solving any problem.
Now when it comes to Verizon and their technologies
being so close to airports and the fact that they can tweak things,
we've seen a similar issue in France.
So what was the solution they had
in France when it came to see band near airports as well?
Well France and europe for more particularly their C band the level
of C band for their wireless providers is a little bit different,
a little different frequency than what's being used by what's going to be used by a T.
And T Verizon.
The second thing is that in France they have
a two mile restriction above around the airports.
And that means a great deal with regards to possible
interference with altimeters because you have a difference between 95
seconds approximately from when you get out of get into
f get into five G interference or 20 seconds.
And so that really means a big difference.
So I think what's gonna happen is they're gonna try
to adapt this two mile um area for both A.
T. And T. And some permanent bases.
And then try to work it out and try to
again calibrate against the possible issue with the altimeters.
Why does this feel like it just snuck up on
these telecom companies despite the fact they've been investing billions
of dollars they've been doing all this research and now
that they're going to roll out there hitting this roadblock.
How is this become such a, I guess a surprise for them?
Well, I think that, I think they're greatly surprised,
I think that they're looking at this as an issue that again,
they they're trying to find a solution for that.
The FAA is sort of the FAA and the aviation industry
is kind of using the leverage of of possible safety issues.
And they again that the wireless industry has
gone to the aviation industry and said,
look, try to figure out what the, how we solve this.
I think the bigger issue for them for the wireless industry is is this a precursor to
other issues down the road for other interference
issues when they continually upgrade at five G.
This is just the first step of five G. We will see many other upgrades down the road.
And could this be a again a precursor for problems for a T and T Verizon,
even T mobile as we develop five G to a greater capacity.
That brings me to my next question. So what benefits will five G bring?
And how is how important is this in the deployment in the
US in terms of continuing to establish us as a technological superpower?
Could these five G delays pretty much
impact the technological development of our country?
Yes, simple answer is yes,
we are far but we are far behind uh china and european countries with regards to five G
and that's relied for reasons and we're moving into
a digital economy and five G provides a foundation
to provide us the ability to compete with
other countries around the world more particularly china
in that digital economy.
And if we don't get five G up and running,
we're going to see the impact on a lot of different ways right now, every day,
five G is delayed.
It costs the US economy about $140 million per day.
And so this is going to have a drastic impact for today
and longtime going if we don't get in the game right now,
we're just sitting on the sidelines.
My last question for you Hugh is when do you think we'll see five
G rollout even if it's a rollout where the airports aren't as strong?
Do you see this happening in the next weeks,
months or do you think it could be further than that?
Well,
18 team Verizon has said they're going to roll out
everything except that to two mile radius starting tomorrow.
They're they're going they're green lighting that the issue is that that,
that those areas around there around hundreds of airports around the country that,
as I mentioned, that's gonna be the next step.
Uh, but again, this is going to be a bigger issue is,
Does this is the first step of a solution or is this the first
step of a continual problem with the rollout of 5G from all the carriers?
All right, Hugh odom. It's always a pleasure here.
I appreciate a founder and president of vertical consultants.
Thank you so much for being on our show.
Again, appreciate your expertise there as always.