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business Wednesday 19 January 2022
Airlines renew warnings of travel disruption from 5G rollout
By DAVID KOENIG ernment auction run by
AP Airlines Writer the FCC, then spent billions
The airline industry is raising more to build out new net-
the stakes in a showdown works. In response to con-
with AT&T and Verizon over cern by the airlines, they
plans to launch new 5G agreed to delay launching
wireless service this week, the service from early De-
warning that thousands of cember until early January.
flights could be grounded Late on New Year's Eve,
or delayed if the rollout Buttigieg and FAA Admin-
takes place near major air- istrator Stephen Dickson
ports. asked the companies for
CEOs of the nation's larg- another delay, warning of
est airlines say that interfer- "unacceptable disruption"
ence from the wireless ser- to air service.
vice on a key instrument on AT&T CEO John Stankey
planes is worse than they and Verizon CEO Hans
originally thought. Vestberg rejected the re-
"To be blunt, the nation's quest in a letter that had
commerce will grind to a a scolding, even mocking
halt" unless the service is tone. But they had second
blocked near major air- other countries. gers would be subjected to The airline industry and the thoughts after intervention
ports, the CEOs said in a However, the CEOs of 10 cancellations, diversions or FAA say that they have that reached the White
letter Monday to federal passenger and cargo air- delays," the CEOs said. tried to raise alarms about House. They agreed to the
officials including Transpor- lines including American, The airline CEOs asked potential interference from second, shorter delay but
tation Secretary Pete But- Delta, United and South- that the new 5G be barred 5G C-Band but the FCC implied that there would
tigieg, who has previously west say that 5G will be within two miles of airport has ignored them. be no more compromises.
taken the airlines' side in more disruptive than they runways. The telecoms, the FCC and That was followed by a
the matter. originally thought because AT&T and Verizon declined their supporters argue that deal in which the telecoms
AT&T and Verizon plan to dozens of large airports that to comment. A trade group C-Band and aircraft altim- agreed to reduce the pow-
activate their new 5G wire- were to have buffer zones for the telecom industry, eters operate far enough er of their networks near 50
less service Wednesday to prevent 5G interference CTIA, did not immediately apart on the radio spec- airports for six months. In ex-
after two previous delays with aircraft will still be sub- respond to a request for trum to avoid interference. change, the FAA and the
from the original plan for an ject to flight restrictions an- comment. They also say that the avi- Transportation Department
early December rollout. nounced last week by the The showdown between ation industry has known promised not to further op-
The new high-speed 5G Federal Aviation Adminis- two industries and their rival about C-Band technology pose the rollout of 5G C-
service uses a segment of tration. They add that those regulators — the FAA and for several years but did Band.
the radio spectrum that is restrictions won't be limited the Federal Communica- nothing to prepare — air- President Joe Biden praised
close to that used by al- to times when visibility is tions Commission, which lines chose not to upgrade the deal, but the airlines
timeters, which are devices poor."Unless our major hubs oversees radio spectrum altimeters that might be weren't satisfied with the
that measure the height of are cleared to fly, the vast — now threatens to further subject to interference, agreement, regarding it as
aircraft above the ground. majority of the traveling disrupt the aviation indus- and the FAA failed to be- a victory for the telecoms
AT&T and Verizon say their and shipping public will es- try, which has been ham- gin surveying equipment that didn't adequately ad-
equipment will not interfere sentially be grounded. This mered by the pandemic on planes until the last few dress their concerns about
with aircraft electronics, means that on a day like for nearly two years. weeks. AT&T and Verizon trying to land planes at air-
and that the technology is yesterday, more than 1,100 This was a crisis that was spent billions of dollars for ports where the new ser-
being safely used in many flights and 100,000 passen- years in the making. C-Band spectrum in a gov- vice would be active.q
Microsoft buys game maker Activision Blizzard for about $70B
By MATT O'BRIEN If the deal survives scrutiny tivision Blizzard to drive for-
Associated Press from U.S. and European ward on its" commitments
Microsoft is paying nearly regulators in the coming to improve its workplace
$70 billion for Activision Bliz- months, it also could be culture. Activision disclosed
zard, the maker of Candy one of the biggest tech last year it was being in-
Crush and Call of Duty, as it acquisitions in history. vestigated by the Securi-
seeks an edge in the fierce- Dell bought data-storage ties and Exchange Com-
ly competitive businesses of company EMC in 2016 for mission over complaints of
mobile gaming and virtual- around $60 billion. workplace discrimination.
reality technology. Activision has been buf- That was after California
The all-cash $68.7 billion feted for months by alle- sued the Santa Monica-
deal will turn Microsoft, gations of misconduct and based company in July, cit-
maker of the Xbox gam- unequal pay, and that was ing a "frat boy" culture that
ing system, into one of the addressed Tuesday by Mi- had become "a breed-
world's largest video game crosoft CEO Satya Nadella ing ground for harassment driving efforts to further shares soared 27% in early
companies and help it in a conference call with and discrimination against strengthen the company's trading Tuesday, making
compete with tech rivals investors. women." culture and accelerate up for losses over the past
such as Meta, formerly "The culture of our organi- Activision CEO Bobby business growth. six months since California's
Facebook, in creating im- zation is my number one Kotick will retain his role, Wall Street saw the acqui- discrimination lawsuit was
mersive virtual worlds for priority," Nadella said, add- and he and his team will sition as a big win for Ac- filed. Shares of Microsoft
both work and play. ing that "it's critical for Ac- maintain their focus on tivision Blizzard Inc. and slipped less than 1%. q