C-Band is expected to give both AT&T, Verizon 5G customers wider coverage and higher speeds

The Federal Communications Commission along with telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T have been in a turf war with the Federal Aviation Administration and the airline industry due to the intended rollout of 5G C-band, which targets a radio frequency band between 3.7 and 4.2 GHz.

The rollout of the C-Band has been repeatedly delayed due to concerns over communication issues and frequency overlap between cellular networks and airline comms.

The incumbent 5G system operates at 60MHz, millimeter-wave, and has incredible speed and massive capacity, but it covers very little area. Due to the poor coverage, the touted 5G upgrade has felt incremental to most consumers. This may change with C-Band, wherein the coverage will be closer to existing 4G systems.

For the telecoms industry, C-Band is a finite and extremely valuable resource. It has been called the “Goldilocks frequency,” a just-right sweet spot that delivers both lightning-fast speed and relatively wide coverage

Verizon and AT&T have collectively spent $67 billion on C-Band licenses and had planned to launch the new 5G service after CES 2022 in 46 US cities. However, the telecom giants conceded to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s request for a voluntary two-week delay of their C-Band rollouts.

Verizon has already said that it expects peak download speeds on C-band to be 1 gigabit per second, or 10x faster than 4G LTE. While this would put it on par with the highest bandwidth WiFi services, it bears mentioning that the telecommunications company has presented these speeds as the best-case scenario for connectivity, not the norm.

Only 46 FCC-certified areas can get C-Band before 2024, wherein the expected rollout is slated for January 19.

“Every iPhone 13 and iPhone 12, iPad 5G series, the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, Galaxy Flip3 and Galaxy Fold 3 can access the full Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband network, including C-Band and mmWave, with the latest software update,” a Verizon spokesman said.