US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy reportedly criticised Verizon for not moving fast enough to fulfil a $2.4 billion, 15-year telecom contract with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and vowed to speed air traffic control system upgrades.

Reuters reported the FAA is reviewing Verizon’s contract.

In a press briefing on 11 March, Duffy stated the US Department of Transportation would seek out the nation’s best engineers “to help us think through how we can do this really quickly”.

“We can lay fibre. It can be done quickly but those who lay fibre can’t put us at the back of the line,” he said.

Duffy reportedly detailed an intention to seek considerable funding from the government to overhaul air traffic control.

“I’m going to ask the Congress for all the money up front so we can expedite this process of building out this system,” he said.

A Verizon representative told Mobile World Live it continues “to work with the FAA on solutions that will create an advanced, national air traffic control system”.

“We said from the beginning that we are open and willing to work with companies that may offer complementary services to this new, communications network. Our teams have been actively working with the FAA’s technology teams and our solutions stand ready to be deployed.”

Reuters reported some members of the US Democratic Party are concerned the FAA could hand Verizon’s contract to SpaceX because owner Elon Musk is closely linked with US President Donald Trump, though the company played the talk down in a post on X.