Brazil to conduct tests to check air safety with 5G

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil has been included in the list of countries that will verify whether 5G – the latest generation technology that the South American country will debut this year – can jeopardize the safety of aircraft in its airspace, a matter of global interest that has already set off alarm bells in the United States (US).

The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer (SA:EMBR3) will be in charge of the studies, according to industry sources consulted by EFE. However, the company did not want to give details on the matter. On Wednesday, it only stated that it has been following the issue and oriented its employees to ensure “the highest degree of safety” in its air operations, in a brief note sent to this editor.

“Embraer has been following the discussions on the possible impacts of 5G telecommunications technology on aviation, has continuously collaborated with the competent aeronautical authorities and has guided its operators to ensure the highest level of safety in the operation of Embraer aircraft in this scenario,” states the note sent by the company.

However, the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel, the regulator) itself confirmed that Embraer asked for support in defining the tests, a request that will be evaluated by the department in charge of promoting the efficient use of the radio spectrum in the country at the regulator.

In a note sent to EFE, Moisés Moreira, advisor to Anatel and president of the Monitoring Group for the Implementation of Solutions to Interference Problems (Gaispi), said that Embraer expressed “its intention to carry out flight and ground tests to verify the susceptibility of its aircraft to 5G”.

The issue took repercussions in the country after the US government was forced to ask two operators (AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ)) for an extension of up to two weeks for the activation of the network, scheduled for this Wednesday, following concerns expressed by the US. Boeing (NYSE: BA) and its main rival, the European Airbus (PA:AIR), the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world.

With alarm bells ringing in one of the planet’s major powers, Anatel is analyzing the matter “carefully and cautiously,” Moreira explained.

“It is noteworthy that the main band for the implementation of 5G networks, the subject of this discussion, is 3.5 gigahertz (GHz), which in Brazil corresponds to the band from 3,300 to 3,700 megahertz (MHz), and therefore is located in a frequency lower than that used in the United States, which ranges from 3,700 to 3,980 MHz,” he said in a note sent to EFE.

According to the expert, the equipment used in aircraft (radio altimeters) operates in the 4,200 to 4,400 MHz range, so that 5G in Brazil “is at least 500 MHz away from the operating frequency of such equipment, while in the United States, this distance is just over 200 MHz”.

With this greater frequency distance, known as “guard band” in the South American power, there are better conditions and a lower risk of interference.

The Ministry of Communications was more emphatic than Anatel and stressed that none of the bands that will be used to implement 5G in Brazil (700 MHz; 2.3 GHz; 3.5 GHz; and 26 GHz) presents “any risk to the operation of aircraft, as has been seen in the United States,” in a response sent to EFE.

Brazil secured its entry into 5G technology this year after an auction held in November, where the big winners were the subsidiaries in the country of Spain’s Telefónica (MC:TEF) (Vivo), Mexico’s Telecom América (Claro), and Italy’s TIM, which will operate the network in the 3.5 GHz band.

The service should start operating in the main Brazilian capitals in July of this year, and the band’s release will be conditioned to the execution of protection measures for the satellite systems.

“Until the start of the activation of 5G stations, if Anatel identifies the need for additional measures to protect the equipment used by aircraft, these will be adopted and disclosed in due time,” said the regulator’s expert.

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