Verizon has been awarded a $2.4 billion contract to update the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) telecommunications and information management systems. If all options are exercised, this agreement, which represents fresh business for the corporation, will last 15 years. The deal was awarded under the FAA Enterprise Network Services (FENS) procurement program, which replaces the old FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) contract system. Harris Corp., who was previously in possession of the FTI award, lost the contract. In addition to network access for administrative information systems such as email, payroll and online training, Verizon will offer telecommunications, information management services, network connectivity and other capabilities. Also, Verizon will offer services for program management, network engineering, test and evaluation, and network security management. The contract infrastructure will serve as the cornerstone of the Next Generation Air Transportation System. Verizon Business CEO Kyle Malady said: “From dynamic services and bandwidth…
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has put forward a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that gives airlines an additional year, until February 1, 2024, to address faulty altimeters in their aircraft. These altimeters, which measure an airplane’s height above the earth’s surface, are present on 7,993 planes registered in the United States. The FAA believes that 180 of these altimeters will need to be completely replaced, while 820 will need filters added to comply with the proposed modification requirement. This upgrade is expected to cost a total of $26 million. The ruling is part of a settlement reached between the aviation and cellular sectors after AT&T and Verizon paid $69 billion for C-Band spectrum licenses. Airplane altimeters typically operate in the 4.2 – 4.4 GHz frequency, but certain altimeters cannot filter out 5G signals from the carriers’ spectrum in the 3.7-3.98 GHz range. The FAA is therefore…