House lawmaker calls 5G wireless process ‘completely broken’

A top House lawmaker called the U.S. government’s process of auctioning radio spectrum “completely broken” as he prepares to hold a hearing on the recent introduction of new 5G wireless service that may threaten aviation equipment.

Representative Peter DeFazio, the Oregon Democrat who is chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said Wednesday the Federal Communications Commission had no plan in place to deal with what he called well known safety issues. 

The committee is holding a hearing Thursday featuring testimony from government officials and representatives of the wireless and aviation industries to discuss 5G, which was introduced on Jan. 19. The new service uses frequencies close to those on aircraft equipment, prompting aviation regulators to issue flight restrictions. 

The awkward deployment of 5G, which was twice delayed in recent weeks, was caused by FCC’s decision to approve it without “any concrete plan in place to safely deploy these technologies without interfering with aviation,” DeFazio said in his prepared opening statement for the hearing. 

The lawmaker also revealed that the Federal Aviation Administration had attempted to raise concerns about the potential for 5G radio interference earlier than was previously known. 

DeFazio said the FAA “was ignored” in 2019 when it raised the issue with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce Department branch responsible for coordinating federal airwaves policy.

In a September 2019 letter, the FAA asked the Commerce Department branch to carry its concerns about interference to the FCC, which at the time was considering rules for allocating the airwaves for 5G use. A search Wednesday of the FCC’s online record found no evidence the FAA’s point of view was relayed to the communications agency.

The letter showed the FAA raised concerns more than a year earlier than has previously been reported.