On 7 Jan, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a list of 50 airports that will have 5G buffer zones.
These zones are meant to protect sensitive safety instruments, such as the radar altimeter, in an aircraft from 5G interference.
If you’ve ever been on a flight, you’d know that with 4G and earlier, passengers are not supposed to turn on their smartphone data connection during takeoff and landing until they’ve reached the terminal.
But we often see people pull out their phones and hear a chorus of notification dings throughout the cabin as soon as the plane lands and taxi towards a gate.
With Digital National Berhad (DNB) planning to aggressively roll out 5G in the next few years, should Malaysian flyers be worried about it too?
Although the technology is still new and more study should be done, the issue is affecting the US because of their implementation, Frost and Sullivan Aerospace and Defence consultant Shantanu Gangakhedkar told theSun.
The FAA said that the deployments of 5G technology in other countries often involve different conditions than those proposed for the US.
They even gave a few examples such as other countries are using lower power levels, their antennas are tilted downwards, the placement of the antennas relative to the airfields are different and more.
So, the short answer is no, especially if 5G is implemented correctly at airports.
