COAI demands deadline for airlines to phase out radios, seeks 5G services

Telecom industry body COAI has written to the civil aviation ministry seeking a strict deadline for phasing out old altimeters used by Indian airlines as that will help in rolling out 5G service in areas around airports.

Aviation regulator DGCA has imposed restrictions on the rollout of 5G services in mid-frequency range of 3.3 GHz band due to apprehensions that the wireless signals may interfere with those of the radio altimeters used by aircraft.

Altimeters determine altitude of aircraft and any interference could lead to wrong readings that could also jeopardise the movement of a plane.