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It is learnt that Bharti Airtel (Airtel), which recently announced the launching of 5G services in five airports including Bengaluru, Nagpur, Patna, Pune and Varanasi, has to shut down its base stations (BTS) temporarily due to interference with aircraft altimeters.
According to sources, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sent a notice dated November 29 to all the three private operators (Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone-Idea), that in the areas around the airport — 2,100 metres (2.1 km) from both ends of the runway and 910 metres from the centre line of the runway of Indian Aiports should ‘have no 5G/IMT base stations in the 3300-3670 MHz’.
“The base station, nodal or repeater installed in the periphery of 540 metres surrounding the area...must be limited to 58dBm/MHz in 3300-3670 MHz range. Ensure downward tilting of 5G base stations to an extent such that the 5G emissions do not interfere with radio altimeters,” a source told businessline.
The DoT said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has requested to ensure mitigation measures while implementing C-band 5G spectrum, in and around airport areas in view of the safety concerns for operation of aircraft.
5G in airports
Airtel is the only telecom operator that has installed 5G services at select airports. The company has launched its 5G services in 16 cities/towns till now, while Reliance Jio has covered 46 cities/towns, including Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Kolkata, Chennai, Gujarat, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.
Queries sent to both Airtel and Reliance Jio remained unanswered.
“Airtel 5G Plus service is also available at Patna airport, making it the first airport in the State to enjoy ultra-fast 5G service. Customers flying in and out of Patna can enjoy high-speed Airtel 5G Plus across the airport terminal...The new terminal in Bengaluru, Pune, Varanasi and Nagpur are the other airports that have Airtel 5G Plus,” Airtel had said in its 5G services launch release at Patna airport on Monday.
The DoT in the notice has also said that DGCA is expected to complete the altimeter replacement exercise in a proactive and time-bound manner and also requested DGCA to provide a timeline for replacement of radio altimeters and its filters. “DGCA is requested to inform DoT as soon as the above task is complete to enable lifting of the restrictions,” DoT added.
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