Compromise Seen Likely on Rules for 3.5 GHz CBRS Band

While staffers for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai aren’t signaling yet what he will recommend on the contentious question of what to do about priority access licenses in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) band, growing industry speculation is Pai will propose a compromise. Rather than auction all the PALs on a census-tract basis, or as much larger partial economic areas, the FCC would take a varied approach. It would offer some of the seven PALs in each market as census tracts or a similarly small license size and others as PEAs or possibly county-sized licenses.

The approach would offer a partial win to carriers that want PEAs as well as many parties that have asked the FCC to keep the census tracts in the current rules. Industry officials said the new proposed compromise has the support of Google among other players. Replies were filed this week in docket 17-258 (see 1801300018). Google didn’t comment Wednesday. Industry officials on both sides of the question plan visits to the FCC in coming weeks.

“I suspect that a compromise of some sort will be the final outcome,” said an executive at a technology provider. “Some commenters [have] suggested PEAs in urban areas and census tracts in rural areas. This doesn’t make a lot of sense when you realize that many of the PEAs cover urban, suburban, and rural areas.” The FCC didn't comment.

T-Mobile made the case against smaller license sizes in replies, saying small licenses would inevitably mean lower power levels for CBRS devices (CBSDs). “With small license areas, there is a much higher likelihood that when a licensee seeks to deploy a CBSD, there will be a nearby Priority Access CBSD that requires protection, forcing the licensee to reduce power, move its CBSD away from its PAL border in order to use a higher power, or take other steps to protect the transmitter deployed in the adjacent geographic area,” T-Mobile said. “This will limit the number of places where transmitters can be located and curb licensees’ ability to fully deploy services using their licensed spectrum in their geographic service areas.”

An opponent of small license sizes noted census tracts are very small, with Madison Square Garden in New York City covering parts of four different tracts.

“Unfortunately, the FCC has proposed an industrial policy that would change the rules to make CBRS licenses affordable and relevant only to the national mobile carriers, precluding localized uses already being developed by rural broadband providers, critical infrastructure providers, as well as industrial and enterprise users to boost innovation and productivity,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. “Roughly 175 companies and trade associations from every sector except the cellular industry … have filed in favor of keeping the current rules, based on small license areas.”

“It is perhaps surprising to some just how much rural pushback has flowed,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge. “It is hard for Pai to claim to be the friend of rural while pulling out half their spectrum. Keep in mind, there isn't a compromise here. The rules were settled.”

“To further cut up a band that’s already been sliced and diced would further impair its utility, limit competition and reduce deployment of channels suitable for 5G,” said Steve Sharkey, T-Mobile vice president-government affairs. “Census tracts make the band practically unusable for mobile broadband, so if the U.S. wants to be a leader in 5G, it’s critical any compromise license the 70 MHz of PAL spectrum at the PEA level for the top 120 or so markets.”

The Wireless ISP Association “is in discussions with a variety of stakeholders in search of consensus on an approach that will ensure CBRS spectrum is available to connect rural Americans, will enhance America’s leadership in wireless innovation and [the industrial IoT], and will address the legitimate concerns raised by reasonable voices in the mobile industry,” said Jimmy Carr, CEO of All Points Broadband. “It is our sincere hope that these discussions will promptly bear fruit so that we can turn our attention to deploying in the band.”

Many commenters agreed the FCC should further increase the flexibility of the light-touch leasing framework for the PALs, said Dave Wright, director-regulatory affairs at Ruckus Networks. “While Ruckus agrees with the many commenters who noted that secondary markets are not a substitute for getting the PAL size and term right in the first place, we do believe the commission’s innovative light-touch leasing mechanism will play an important role for those who are unable to, or uninterested in, obtaining PAL rights at auction, regardless of the PAL size,” Wright said. “We were glad to see a number of diverse players support the various leasing enhancements that were put forward, especially the proposals to strengthen incentives for license holders to make rights available to the secondary markets.”