AT&T, Verizon CEOs reject U.S. request for 5G deployment delay

The chief executives of AT&T and Verizon Communications rejected a request by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to delay the planned January 5 introduction of new 5G wireless service over aviation safety concerns.

Buttigieg and Federal Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson had asked AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg for a commercial deployment delay of no more than two weeks.

The wireless companies in a joint letter Sunday said they would not deploy 5G around airports for six months but rejected any broader limitation on using C-Band spectrum. They said the Transportation Department proposal would be "an irresponsible abdication of the operating control required to deploy world-class and globally competitive communications networks."