The Aerospace Industries Association has appealed to the White House to intervene over concerns about the safety risks of 5G deployment.

Airlines, the FAA, the FCC, Verizon, and AT&T have been in a tug-of-war over the future of mid-band 5G deployment. Verizon and AT&T are desperate to begin rolling out the $68 billion of spectrum they acquired at a recent FCC auction, but the airline industry and the FCC are worried about possible interference with airline altimeters. 

After Verizon and AT&T rebuffed requests to delay their deployment further — past the January 5 date they had set — the industry is now appealing to the White House, according to Bloomberg.

“We respectfully call on President Biden to intervene and delay the full implementation of C-band 5G until proper risk assessments have taken place and crewmembers are fully briefed as to the extent of the disruptions,” the group said in a statement.

There has been no response yet from the White House.

One thing is clear: T-Mobile is increasingly coming out an even bigger winner in the 5G wars than it already was. The company acquired a wealth of mid-band spectrum when it bought Sprint. T-Mobile’s nearly insurmountable lead in 5G was one of the main reasons its two biggest competitors spent so much money at auction. Unlike the spectrum they acquired, however, T-Mobile’s spectrum is far enough away from altimeter frequencies that it poses no risk.