Federal aviation officials have agreed not to ask for more delays to the new 5G cellular service from AT&T and Verizon, which will clear the way for the companies to start their service.
The start of the service will be delayed by two weeks and the carriers will put in place measures to address government safety concerns.
The agency was concerned that the new 5G service uses signals that conflict with equipment pilots use to land in bad weather. The use of radio altimeters could be restricted by officials, as they said they could.
In a letter to the wireless companies on Monday night, federal officials said that they would not seek or demand any further delays in turning on the new technology unless there were unforeseen safety issues with the technology.
The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and the transportation secretary are confident that your voluntary steps will support the safe coexistence of 5G C-Band deployment and aviation activities.
The agreement prevents a collision between AT&T and the federal regulators who said they could restrict flights if they did not meet their concerns. The airlines said that the restrictions could cause hundreds of thousands of passenger flights to be disrupted, not long after holiday travel was disrupted by staff shortages and weather.
President Biden said in a statement on Tuesday that the agreement was a significant step in the right direction. The agreement will ensure that there will be no disruptions to air operations over the next two weeks and will help us reduce disruptions to air operations when AT&T and Verizon launch 5G on January 19th.
The wireless carriers will follow through on their pledge to operate 5G stations at a lower power than they otherwise plan to. The agreement states that they will reduce the power even more around no more than 50 airports.
The F.A.A. said it would assess whether some radio altimeters could be safely used even with the 5G service, potentially exempting those devices from future restrictions and limiting the number of planes that would face delays or cancellation.
Airlines for America had threatened to go to court to stop the new 5G service. Nicholas E. Calio, the organization's chief executive, said in a statement that it would continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure that new 5G service can coexist with aviation safely.
