According to sources from Reuters, Verizon Communications Inc plans to turn on around 2,000 additional towers this month. This is all part of its next phase of C-Band 5G deployment after the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) agreed with both Verizon and AT&T that it was now safe to turn on more 5G towers. Of course, this only comes after many months and a couple delays because of the aircraft safety concerns with the C-Band spectrum.
Verizon agreed in January to not deploy about 500 towers near airports. Since then, about 5,100 towers were turned on last month. Now they will be able to turn on about another 2,000 in February, the sources said, adding that the total could rise as aviation buffer zones are refined.
Verizon also says they are still on track to meet their promise of 100 million users covered by March 31. As of Tuesday, it had already met the 100 million goal and intended “to exceed that goal.”
The carrier, and the FAA, declined to comment on the number of new towers being activated, but Verizon said it remains committed to “very productive discussions with the FAA and others”.
On Friday, the FAA reported new data had allowed it to “more precisely map the size and shape of the areas around airports where 5G signals are mitigated, shrinking the areas where wireless operators are deferring their antenna activations.”
Based on the new revised exclusion zones, Verizon is expected to be able to deploy about 14% of the 500 towers held up in January, or around 70 towers, the source added.
The FAA is working on a subsequent version of the buffer zones that will allow Verizon to turn on additional towers.