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.
The FCC’s final regulatory scheme for the shared 3.5 GHz band is now effective, the FCC said in a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register. The only parts not in effect are a few information collection requirements still being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget, the notice said. “Facing ever-increasing demands of wireless innovation and constrained availability of clear sources of spectrum, the Citizens Broadband Radio Service is an opportunity to add much-needed capacity through innovative sharing,” the FCC said. “With this Second Order, we finalize the regulatory scheme we created in 2015, putting in place the last rules necessary for this service to become commercially available.” The FCC approved the order at its April open meeting (see 1604280062) and it was released May 2 (see 1605020059).
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.
A report and order on the 3.5 GHz shared band takes the final steps toward establishing rules for the band, the FCC said in the order, approved Thursday (see 1604280062) and released Monday. “Facing ever-increasing demands of wireless innovation and constrained availability of clear sources of spectrum, the Citizens Broadband Radio Service is an opportunity to add much-needed capacity through innovative sharing,” the FCC said. “With this Second Order, we finalize the regulatory scheme we created in 2015, putting in place the last rules necessary for this service to become commercially available.” The order explains why the FCC rejected a request by CTIA that the agency provide license terms of five, rather than three, years for priority access licenses (PALs). Three-year license terms “already [reflect] a balance among parties that advocated for short license terms and those that prefer longer terms,” the FCC said, saying the original rules were for one-year licenses. “Based on the record, we instead adopted a longer, three-year license term and allowed applicants to apply for two consecutive terms, during the first applications window, for a total of six years,” the FCC said. “We continue to believe that ‘three-year non-renewable license terms -- with the ability to aggregate up to six years up-front -- strike a balance between some commenters’ desire for flexibility with other commenters’ need for certainty.’” The FCC said the three-year license terms are long enough to spur investment in the 3.5 GHz band. “Non-renewable, short-term licenses are an essential component of this overall framework,” the FCC said. “They allow operators to obtain PALs when and where Priority Access to the band is needed while permitting periodic, market-based reassignment of these rights in response to changes in local conditions and operator needs.”
The FCC tweaked rules for the 3.5 GHz shared band, approving changes circulated for a vote by commissioners in March (see 1603110083). Commissioner Mike O’Rielly dissented in part, questioning whether the changes will make the band commercially viable. The FCC approved the initial 3.5 GHz NPRM in 2012 (see 1212130044), setting up an experimental three-tiered access and sharing model made up of federal and nonfederal incumbents, priority access licenses (PALs) and general authorized access users.
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).