Is airline safety threatened by the 5G telecoms? 

In the early 2021, for about $80 billion, the US auctioned mid-range 5G bandwidth to mobile phone companies in the 3.7-3.98 GHz range on the spectrum called C band. With AT&T and Verizon deploying new 5G services, a catastrophic aviation crisis that could create chaos for aircraft has been warned by the chief executives of major US passenger and cargo airlines.

This new technology could potentially interfere with or disturb the altimeters. It has been warned that it could interfere with almost 4 percent of the daily scheduled flights, and it will also disrupt the use of radio altimeters. 

The 5G operators want to go for high frequency because faster service is possible with a higher frequency in the spectrum. However, according to the telecom companies Verizon and AT&T, this same service is in other countries, and there have been no issues of aviation interference. According to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), no risk has been identified.  

However, it is to be noted that in France, the spectrum is lower than what's planned for the US. South Korea, too reports no such interference till now.  

According to a US wireless trade group, CTIA, the C band for 5G has not reported any such effects on radio altimeters in almost 40 countries across Europe and Asia.