New CBRS research notes added

It was a big day for spectrum sharing when US regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened the 3.5 GHz CBRS spectrum band to commercial operations.

The band is unique in that it’s shared among unlicensed users, licensed users, and the US Navy. Companies such as Helium, Dish Network and Comcast are planning extensive mobile networks using the band.

In recent filings with the FCC, the National Football League (NFL) said it was expecting to carry on using an in-stadium, coach-to-coach communications system running in the CBRS band.

The NFL is working with US telco Verizon, which was one of the successful bidders in the FCC’s CBRS auction in 2020.

CBRS has become “the go-to option for private wireless,” claims Ilyad Tarazi, President and CEO of Federated Wireless. He says this is because it’s the only technology that can enable “true” private wireless; it’s secure; it’s agile and fast to deploy; and it’s cost-effective, mainly because there are no recurring costs for licensed spectrum and no need to use public mobile radio equipment.

Federated Wireless is one of the spectrum access system managers for CBRS approved by the FCC.

PolicyTracker has just added three research notes on CBRS to its Spectrum Research Service. They cover the development of the CBRS, the auction that took place in 2020, and the take-up of the CBRS framework. This third note also tackles the question of whether CBRS can be used outside the US.

Subscribers to the Spectrum Research Service can access the CBRS research notes here.