CBRS

While Comcast and Charter Communications move toward launching mobile offerings, wireless and cable experts and observers are mixed on whether other operators will follow suit, with some seeing the possibility of smaller operators collectively creating a mobile network. Meanwhile, those major operators likely will feel pressure quickly to divert as much traffic as possible from a wireless carrier's mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), which could mean either big cable ISP investments in their own back ends or acquisitions of wireless companies themselves, we were told.

Twelve companies, including AT&T and Ericsson, joined the Citizens Broadband Radio Service Alliance, it said Thursday in a news release. Other new members are Accelleran, Airspan Networks, American Tower, Baicells, CableLabs, ExteNet Systems, Nsight, Ranzure Networks, Rise Broadband and ZTE. The CBRS Alliance was launched in August as the FCC moves closer to opening the 3.5 GHz shared band. “For LTE-based solutions in the shared CBRS band to be successful, we need a wide range of ecosystem partners, infrastructure, equipment and network providers, to work together closely,” said Michael Peeters of Nokia, president of the alliance. “CBRS enables new kinds of deployments and business models, from LTE-based neutral hosts that can serve multiple service providers, to dedicated networks serving various entities such as enterprises or IoT verticals,” said Neville Meijers of Qualcomm Technologies, alliance chairman.

CableLabs joined the CBRS Alliance and its effort to "evangelize LTE-based citizens [broadband radio service] technology, use cases and business opportunities," the organization said in a blog post Monday. CableLabs said the alliance also is working on a product certification program for LTE equipment in the 3.5 GHz band. It said its Kyrio subsidiary will look at expanding its testing services to support CBRS. According to the alliance website, other members include Alphabet, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm. CableLabs earlier this month joined the MulteFire Alliance consortium, which is focused on LTE mobile standards (see 1609210009).

Six wireless technology companies launched the CBRS Alliance to “develop, market and promote LTE-based solutions” in the new 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service band, they said Tuesday. The six companies are Access Technologies, Federated Wireless, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm and Ruckus Wireless. “In February, the companies announced their commitment to build an ecosystem of industry participants and make LTE-based solutions in the CBRS band widely available,” said an alliance news release. “The Alliance will work towards LTE CBRS field trials in the second half of this year and is developing an official certification process towards successful deployments of CBRS infrastructure.” The FCC approved an experimental three-tiered access and sharing model made up of federal and nonfederal incumbents, priority access licenses and general authorized access users for the shared band (see 1608120057). The FCC still must approve the first spectrum access system administrators and environmental sensing capability operators that will make the complex sharing arrangement work.

Siemens and Federated Wireless unveiled a partnership Tuesday to develop shared spectrum solutions for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. The partnership will make Siemens one of the first companies to use a spectrum access system and environmental sensing capability being developed by Federated, the companies said in a news release. Both must still be approved by the FCC. “Siemens is dedicated to serving all of its critical infrastructure customer segments by ensuring early compliance with the new FCC CBRS rules,” said Jeremy Bryant, Siemens business segment manager. Siemens already offers broadband products that use the 3.65 GHz band, which are required to transition to the new CBRS rules, the companies said. “During the transition period to the new CBRS rules, existing users will also receive protection from radio frequency interference due to the new users of the band if they register their sites with the CBRS database administrator and secure a protection zone for their grandfathered operations.”

The outlook for the 3.5 GHz band, and whether it will attract carrier interest, remain unclear more than three years after the FCC approved the initial rulemaking notice in December 2012 (see 1604280062). Some industry lawyers say carriers are unlikely to play an active role in the band mainly because of the limits placed on the priority access licenses (PALs) to be sold by the FCC as one part of the experiment in sharing. But other observers predict a more positive outcome given the number of carriers that have taken part in the Wireless Innovation Forum’s work on the band.

Google representatives supported CTIA’s request that the FCC reconsider out-of-band emissions limits for Citizens Band Radio Service devices, said a report on a meeting with Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. Making sure LTE devices “are available for the 3.5 GHz band” and making the devices “more readily usable for CBRS will speed and lower the cost of CBRS deployments,” Google said. “Google’s propagation testing indicates the OOBE requirements can be relaxed as proposed by CTIA without material increased risk of harmful interference.” CTIA argued (see 1604140036) that addressing OOBE limits in the shared spectrum band, 20 MHz-wide channels and less-restrictive power levels are key to making it “economically viable” and will set the CBRS "on a better path towards meaningful investment, innovation, and deployment.” The filing was posted Thursday in docket 12-354.

Google supports CTIA’s request that the FCC reconsider out-of-band emissions (OOBE) limits for Citizens Band Radio Service devices in the 3.5 GHz band, Google representatives said in a series of meetings at the FCC. Google met with Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai, and aides to the other commissioners, said a filing in docket 12-354. ”Google representatives noted current interest being shown in CBRS by wireless carriers, equipment manufacturers, and chip suppliers, as well as the productive role the Wireless Innovation Forum (WinnForum) is playing in developing consensus among a large and diverse group of CBRS stakeholders,” Google said. There are now 55 organizations developing 3.5 GHz band standards within the WinnForum’s Spectrum Sharing Committee, Google said. Google’s propagation testing shows OOBE requirements “can be relaxed as proposed by CTIA without material increased risk of harmful interference,” the company said. WinnForum members including Google also lobbied the FCC recently on CBRS (see 1604050019).

The Wireless Innovation Forum told the FCC that the WIF Spectrum Sharing Committee is recommending changes to an FCC proposal for rules for the protected contours for grandfathered licensees in the 3.5 GHz band as the FCC launches the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). The task force’s “general consensus” is that the commission’s proposed two-pronged approach “is not sufficiently effective at protecting” wireless ISP operations and may block CBRS deployments. “This approach does not, for example, explicitly take into account protection of [wireless Internet service providers] base stations, which are typically mounted at high sites with good visibility to surrounding areas,” the forum said. “In this case, the FCC’s implicit assumption that the received signal strength at the base station from a CBRS device outside a boundary must be less than the signal strength at the boundary is not necessarily correct.” The comments were posted in docket 12-354.

The power and out-of-band emissions limits in FCC rules for the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band are a nonstarter, representatives of the Wireless Innovation Forum’s Spectrum Sharing Committee told officials of the Office of Engineering and Technology in a meeting, said a filing posted Monday in docket 12-354. A wide group of industry companies was represented, including Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Federated Wireless, Google, Motorola Solutions, Nokia Networks, Qualcomm and Verizon. Among the FCC officials at the meeting was OET Chief Julius Knapp. Achieving the power and emissions limits in the rules “will require so much power back off as to render the devices virtually unusable,” the filing said. “After additional review, the diverse set of organizations participating in this filing agree that the required measurement procedure is a major impediment to fulfilling the promise of Part 96.” The companies also said no other licensed mobile broadband service is subject to similar requirements and the rules “do not properly reflect the impact of aggregate interference.” It's likely other wideband systems, including Wi-Fi and WiMAX, will be unable to meet the emissions limits, the companies said. The commission approved creating the new Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) in the 3550-3700 MHz band at its April meeting, after years of debate (see 1504170055). CTIA earlier sought changes to the power and emissions limits in the rules (see 1510210020). The Satellite Industry Association opposed many of the changes sought by CTIA and others, saying they're an interference risk to fixed satellite service earth station use of the spectrum (see 1510200061).