Indians Living Near Airports Won’t Get 5G Services Now; Know Why

New Delhi: 5G services, which were kicked off in the country in October, is being rolled out at quite a fast pace and scale compared to 4G or 3G.

However, some serious concerns are still to be addressed.

According to industry experts, millions of consumers who live in close vicinity of airports are unlikely to get 5G on their devices, at least in the near future.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) recently sent a letter to telecom service providers (TSPs) Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone directing them not to install C-band 5G base stations within a 2.1 km range of Indian airports, ET Now reported.

C-Band 5G can create problems with radio (radar) altimeters of aircraft. Pilots depend entirely on radio (radar) altimeters during takeoff and landing, to avoid crashing into mountains.

DoT letter said that the telecom service providers (TSPs) are advised that

“In the area 2,100 metres from both ends of runway and 910 metres from centre line of runway of Indian Airports shall have no 5G/IMT base stations in the 3,300-3,670 MHz,” DoT advised TSPs.

The advisory will be applicable till Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ensures replacement of all aircraft Radio Altimeters filters.

“It is expected that the DGCA will proactively ensure the above in a time-bound and expeditious manner. DGCA is requested to inform DoT as soon as the above task is complete to enable lifting of the restrictions,” DoT stated.

Airtel has already installed 5G base stations at airports in Nagpur, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Guwahati and Pune, while Jio has installed 5G base stations in Delhi-NCR area.

There have been multiple reports of pilots in the US facing problems with the aircraft’s radio (radar) altimeters following the roll-out of high-speed 5G wireless networks.