The Federal Aviation Administration has moved a key part of its air traffic control network modernisation effort to AT&T, awarding the company an initial $74.3 million award under a contract the agency expects to grow into a multibillion-dollar deal.
The award covers initial work on FAA Enterprise Network Services, or FENS, the communications network that will underpin the agency's broader overhaul of the US air traffic control system. FENS is intended to replace the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure network, which has carried agency communications for more than two decades and provides the backbone connecting air traffic facilities and other FAA operations across the National Airspace System.
A reshuffle, not a fresh start
The move is notable because the FAA had already awarded Verizon a 15-year FENS contract in 2023 worth more than $2 billion. That agreement called for Verizon to design, build, operate and maintain the agency's next-generation communications platform. The FAA now says it is restructuring FENS around AT&T to accelerate deployment and meet its 2028 modernisation deadline, with Verizon remaining in a supporting role.
The agency has not disclosed the full value of the long-term AT&T FENS agreement. The $74.3 million figure covers the initial tranche of work.
The scale of the programme
The new award comes as the FAA accelerates its Brand New Air Traffic Control System, an effort to replace ageing radar, telecommunications, software and hardware by the end of 2028. Telecommunications is one of the highest priorities in that programme because it connects the National Airspace System.
The numbers involved are substantial. The FAA says it has already replaced more than one-third of its old copper infrastructure with high-speed digital fibre. The broader modernisation plan calls for 5,170 new high-speed network connections using fibre, satellite and wireless technology, along with 27,625 new radios, 462 digital voice switches and 612 new radars.
Why the urgency
The case for moving quickly is visible in the delay statistics. Flight-delay minutes attributed to equipment problems in 2025 were about 300 percent higher than the average from 2010 through 2024, according to the agency. Ageing hardware does not simply fail outright; it degrades, and the resulting outages and workarounds ripple through a system that has very little slack at peak times.
For passengers, the connection between a telecommunications contract and a delayed departure is not obvious, but it is direct. The network that links radar sites, control facilities and communications equipment is what allows controllers to see and talk to aircraft. When that infrastructure is unreliable, the standard response is to increase separation and reduce the flow rate, which shows up as ground stops and delays.
The funding gap
Money remains the open question. Congress has provided $12.5 billion toward the air traffic control overhaul, but the FAA says another $20 billion will be needed to complete the programme. That leaves a substantial shortfall against a 2028 target date that is now less than three years away.
Restructuring a major contract mid-programme carries its own risk. Transitions between prime contractors on large government technology projects have a long history of slipping, and the FAA is attempting this one while simultaneously trying to compress the schedule. Whether moving FENS to AT&T accelerates the work or introduces a fresh set of transition problems is likely to become clear well before 2028.
Sources: AeroTime. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By Elena Vargas.
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