WISPs Say Major Changes to CBRS Rules Would Put Them Out of Business
WISPA filed a letter at the FCC on Monday asking the agency not to move the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) operations to another band or otherwise make major changes to the rules (see 2512050029). In other comments posted Monday in docket 17-258, wireless ISPs said they may be forced to shut down if the rules are changed.
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WISPA members serve some 9 million Americans, and more than 60 were winning bidders in the FCC’s 2020 CBRS priority access license (PAL) auction, the group said. Members “routinely use” both PAL and general authorized access spectrum, “operating with 20 MHz and 40 MHz channels where neighbors exist, and 80 MHz channels in very rural areas, supporting speeds from 100/20 Mbps up to gigabit service.”
Current CBRS rules “work exactly as intended,” and changing them would "harm providers, disrupt service for millions, and undermine Congress and NTIA’s objectives under the BEAD program,” WISPA said. Relocating or repurposing the CBRS band “would impose enormous costs on operators -- requiring equipment replacement, site redesign, and re-deployment that collectively would total many millions of dollars and thousands of labor hours.” Increased power levels, meanwhile, “would dramatically expand PAL Protection Areas, increase interference risks, and fundamentally alter the balance the FCC created.”
Idaho-based RC Wireless said it has invested more than $250,000 “to be able to serve the communities we are currently serving with the CBRS hardware as is.” Changes to the band “would cause our company to have to redeploy new equipment, redesign our network, and worst case scenario -- bankrupt us and put us out of business.”
Nearly 900 of SmarterBroadband's customers rely on its licensed CBRS spectrum, the California WISP said. “There is no practical path for us to migrate away” from that band or “transition” those subscribers “to alternative technologies,” it said. “The financial and operational impact on our company, as well as the disruption to our customers, would be severe.”
The proposal to move the CBRS band “was a big shock, as we assumed it was safe due to it being so new, and all the work it took the FCC to get it into operation,” said Bits of Technology Wireless Internet. Changes “would be detrimental to us, and the many small communities and municipalities who now use” the band, the Iowa WISP said, noting that it has invested more than $1 million in CBRS equipment. “If we were to need to replace said equipment, we would not be able to afford the change and would likely have to close our business.”
Proposals to relocate CBRS from the 3.55-3.70 GHz band “would cause substantial disruption to existing deployments and customer service,” Massachusetts-based provider Netafy said. Relocation “would require redesign of network plans, potential equipment changes, additional labor, and uncertainty about whether any replacement band would offer comparable propagation, sharing, or economics.”