CBRS

Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan on Wednesday urged Congress to fully fund the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2304210069). Carriers, consumers “and the millions of Americans that roam on these networks must not be negatively impacted by insufficient funding,” Donovan said at the start of the group’s spring show in Pittsburgh.

Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner, the author of an industry report last year questioning the citizens broadband radio services model for sharing (see 2211140062), said Tuesday the numbers in a new NTIA report (see 2305010063) don’t impress him. “The absolute numbers of devices are still small,” Entner emailed: “In 21 months they have added 150,000 devices. [Wireless carriers] added in just a quarter more than 10 times that.” The 121% increase in CBRS devices during that period reflects the overall small numbers involved, he said.

Dynamic sharing and the citizens broadband radio service are a model for the future, NTIA said Monday in a blog post and new report by the agency’s Colorado lab, the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS). The support for CBRS comes as the administration moves forward on a national spectrum strategy. Last year, CTIA, which favors exclusive-use licenses where possible, questioned how well CBRS is working and the extent of deployment (see 2211140062). CTIA isn't backing down.

As NTIA tries to craft a national spectrum strategy, advocates are far apart on whether exclusive licenses for spectrum or reuse and sharing should be the primary focus, per comments submitted this week (docket 2023-0003). It continued to get pushes for repurposing bands including 3.1-3.45 GHz (see 2304170009).

The U.S.’ citizens broadband radio service approach has been at forefront of a global movement for private 5G, said Dave Wright, Hewlett-Packard head of global wireless policy, said at an FCBA spectrum CLE seminar Wednesday. CBRS commercial service has been available since 2020 in the U.S., and the FCC has authorized more than 500 devices in CBRS, and more than 4,300 professional installers are CBRS certified, he said. Beyond traditional spectrum access via licensing or unlicensed use, CBRS in the 3.5 GHz frequency range is a new approach in spectrum management by introducing a three-tiered sharing model, he said. Incumbents get protection from interference from priority access licenses and general authorized access, and PAL has priority over GAA, he said. One key difference in the U.S. approach is that no other country has used a dynamic framework like the U.S., and in most cases they're using local licenses instead, he said. Unlicensed spectrum is increasingly a linchpin for communications networks, with more devices using more data, said Alex Roytblat, Wi-Fi Alliance vice president-worldwide regulatory affairs. Telehealth, virtual reality and industrial IoT will require connectivity magnitudes faster than what's provided today by 5G, and opening up the 6 GHz band will help enable them, he said. That will require more use of local-area short-range communications and spectral reuse, he said. “The wide area network model is not going to be there to support our connectivity,” he said. The U.S. is unique in spectrum management with two agencies having authority -- the FCC regulating non-federal commercial use and NTIA regulating federal use such as by DOD, said Becky Tangren, NCTA associate general counsel. With spectrum increasingly crowded, the FCC is no longer as focused on exclusive access and is getting more creative in allowing access, such as via unlicensed bands, or shared use, she said. Some 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference agenda items will look at harmonizing frequencies for 5G, and WRC-2027 will likely look at what bands are to be used for 6G, she said.

Samsung Electronics America asked the FCC to move quickly on its request to market and operate a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see [Ref:2303100019). Charter Communications was the lone commenter to urge caution. As with initial comments, there were two replies, posted Wednesday in docket 23-93. “Both commenters in the record -- one operator and one manufacturer -- support grant of a waiver,” Samsung said. “Defer acting on Samsung’s petition until interested stakeholders have had a reasonable opportunity to review and comment on the results of Samsung’s tests on whether and how its novel dual-band transmitter satisfies the CBRS out-of-band emissions and in-band emissions levels in each mode in which the Samsung base station can operate,” Charter said: If the FCC decides to approve the radio now it should “condition any grant on Samsung immediately ceasing operations if the base station causes harmful interference to CBRS operations.”

A waiver request by Samsung Electronics America for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2303100019) got some support at the FCC, with no one filing in opposition. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 23-93. The FCC recently approved a similar waiver for a multiband waiver for Ericsson, and Ericsson recently sought a second waiver that parallels the Samsung request (see 2303170044). The waiver addresses out-of-band emissions limits in the CBRS band. Verizon, which noted it has significant operations in both bands, said a single radio is easier to deploy than two. “The smaller size of the multiband device, compared to two separate devices, will ease the regulatory siting process itself, enabling faster deployments,” Verizon said. A single radio will also increase energy efficiency by as much as 45% compared with two stand-alone units, the carrier said. “Multiband 5G radios incorporate multiple spectrum bands in a single radio, reducing energy consumption and resulting in a much smaller cell site footprint, thereby facilitating faster zoning review and easier siting,” Ericsson said. The Samsung petition and its follow-up petition demonstrate that the waiver of the CBRS OOBE limits “will not negatively affect operations” in either band, the company said: “Strict application of the OOBE limits at issue would not serve the public interest. The alternative would be to manufacture and install two separate radios, which would increase the time, costs, and energy consumption of deploying 5G networks.”

The “jury’s still out” on whether the FCC’s 3.45 GHz auction was a success, said John Hunter, T-Mobile senior director-technology and engineering policy, during an FCBA wireless lunch Wednesday. Speakers welcomed the administration’s early steps on a national spectrum strategy (see 2303200044).

CommScope notified the FCC it’s suspending operations as a spectrum access system manager in the citizens broadband radio service band, effective April 1. “We will no longer be providing SAS services nor accepting CBSD [CBRS device] registrations,” said a notice posted Monday in docket 15-319: “In addition, CommScope will securely transfer all currently registered CBSDs to other Commission-approved SAS administrators by April 1.” The company will retain records not pertaining to federal incumbents for five years, the notice said. CommScope was one of the original SAS providers, along with Google and Federated Wireless. CTIA noted in a report last year that CommScope had effectively abandoned the market earlier in the year. “While Commscope remained silent about its reasons one can reasonably surmise it was due to a lack of expected demand,” the report said: “Companies do not often abandon profitable lines of business.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment Friday on Samsung Electronics America's request in August for a waiver allowing it to offer a radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum. Comments are due March 27, replies April 4, in docket 23-93. “At the time the C-Band Order was adopted, the CBRS auction had not even commenced,” Samsung said in a petition seeking the waiver: “No one knew who would win licenses in CBRS, let alone in the 3.7 GHz auction which would not end for another year. Carriers were still determining what their mid-band strategies would be and how they could use one or both bands. The world has evolved significantly since then. Grant of Samsung’s waiver request is appropriate now to ensure that carriers have the equipment they need to rapidly deliver on the promise of their 5G networks.” The FCC recently approved a similar waiver for a multiband waiver for Ericsson, which had broad support (see 2208240045).