Amid concerns over aircraft safety due to 5G wireless services in the US, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has said that there won’t be any safety issues to an aircraft flying over India due to the upcoming 5G mobile services. The telecom regulator emphasised that the new age technology is “prima facie safe” for planes in the country.

Recently, several flights to the US were cancelled or rescheduled as airlines feared that the 5G phone service could pose a risk to aircraft instruments, impacting some popular jets like Boeing 777.

Assuring that 5G services won’t be a problem for planes in India, Trai chairman PD Vaghela told ToI: “India will have no problems. Prima facie, there are no problems for the aviation industry within India over 5G spectrum rollout.”

While the distance between spectrum reserved for 5G and that for aircraft is very less in the US, the same is much wider when it comes to India, the daily quoted him as saying.

In the US, the band for 5G is from 3700-3980MHz, while the radio altimeters on the aircraft work in the 42004400MHz bands, making a gap of only 220MHz. However, the 5G bands in India run between 3300MHz and 3670MHz, making a gap of 530MHz with the frequency used by airlines.

Despite a significant gap, Vaghela noted that even though threats are missing in India, Trai will have the issue examined in detail for a concrete assessment.

Meanwhile, the Indian telecom industry also assured that there are no safety issues for airlines due to 5G. “Most of the concerns here are being driven by fear floating in the US. The fact is there is no need to panic in India,” the publication quoted SP Kochhar, DG of Cellular Operators Association of India, as saying.

The auctions for 5G spectrum in India are expected to happen later this year, after which a rollout of the services could be expected over the next 1-2 years.