CBRS

DOD has floated a compromise to the wireless industry that vacates military-controlled bands to 420 MHz available for FCC auction while maintaining its grip on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band, the main battleground in Capitol Hill’s protracted talks on a compromise airwaves legislative package. DOD’s proposal, first reported by Punchbowl News, circulated as the Senate prepared to move on an amended version of the House-passed budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 14), which will provide a blueprint for a coming reconciliation package that Republicans hope to use to move spectrum legislation (see 2501290057).

A representative of the Open Technology Institute at New America warned an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr against higher power limits and lower out-of-band emissions (OOBE) levels in the citizens broadband radio service band (see 2503130049), said a filing posted Wednesday. “With more than 400,000 base stations deployed by more than 1,000 operators for a wide variety of use cases, it would be fatally disruptive to accede to the demands of a small subset of users to raise power to a level that will inevitably increase interference and reduce channel availability for most other users, especially [general authorized access] users who have just recently built out the vast majority of [CBRS deployments] in reliance on the Commission’s rules,” Michael Calabrese said in the filing in docket 17-258. That is especially true for rural and small communities where hundreds of wireless ISPs “have relied on the Commission’s CBRS rules to invest in equipment sold by [original equipment manufacturers] such as Cambium Networks and Tarana Wireless to offer more affordable fixed wireless broadband services.”

Samsung Electronics America and Ericsson jointly disputed a recent FCC filing by NCTA raising concerns about citizens broadband radio service interference, including by dual-band radios that operate across CBRS and the C band (see 2503060016). Both companies have waiver requests for multiband radios before the regulator. “NCTA’s continuing efforts to put off FCC action on these waivers only serves to delay the public interest benefits the multiband radios will provide: an innovative, efficient, and cost-effective base station that is smaller and has more functionality than separate CBRS and C-band radios,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-93. “Multiband radios will support faster deployment through fewer site approvals, lower installation costs, smaller form factor, and more energy efficiency.”

EchoStar disagreed sharply with a recent NCTA study that raised concerns about proposals to relax in-band emissions limits in the citizens broadband radio service band (see 2503060016). Other technical studies “disprove NCTA’s arguments that there is a binary choice between high power use and protecting [general authorized access users], sharing, and incumbents,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-258. EchoStar’s studies show that power levels and “updating the in-band and out-of-band emission limits will increase spectrum utility without harming federal or commercial incumbents,” EchoStar said, recapping its meeting with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

Verizon representatives met with FCC Wireless Bureau staff to discuss the spectral dynamics of the citizens broadband radio service band. While higher allowed equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) levels create “larger cells, which offer more coverage area, propagation losses are identical, regardless of power level,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-258. “The propagation ‘slope’ dictates the ratio of cell edge (cell size area) to interfered area. … This ratio (interference area/cell area) is the same regardless of cell size or allowed EIRP.”

Advocates of keeping most of the current rules for the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) band intact have been playing defense since the start of President Donald Trump's administration and the ascension of Brendan Carr to chairman of the FCC. Carr has said little in recent weeks but went on record in the past urging an examination of higher power levels, which some view as a threat to growing use of the band.

Nokia asked the FCC not to make public the information it provided as it starts commercial operations as a spectrum access system administrator for the citizens broadband radio service band. Nokia filed a notice at the commission last week that it had begun operations, but it stripped all data from the filing in docket 15-319. The FCC approved Nokia’s application last summer (see 2407180035).

As President Donald Trump's administration approaches the end of its second month, many questions remain about what it will do concerning the national spectrum strategy and the studies of the lower 3 and 7/8 GHz band started under former President Joe Biden. Most of the news out of NTIA so far has been about BEAD's future, with little on spectrum.

NCTA filed at the FCC results of recent tests that it said justify concerns about proposals to relax in-band emissions limits in the citizens broadband radio service band. The tests by Charter Communications “show up to 60-plus percent degradation in service” from the change, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-258. “NCTA’s previously submitted simulation studies and the February … Lab Test Results provide consistent and complementary views of the frequency with which different interference scenarios resulting from elevated, undesired emissions limits will occur in real-world deployments, thus harming the CBRS operating environment,” NCTA said.

With Congress fighting over whether DOD spectrum will be reallocated for commercial use (see 2502270064), experts agreed Wednesday that putting a value on federal spectrum remains difficult.