CBRS Ready to Move to Next Stage, with Shared Use of Band Later This Year

In a key next step for the shared 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, the FCC Monday got proposals for initial commercial deployment (ICDs) by conditionally approved spectrum access system (SAS) administrators. By early evening, proposals were starting to trickle in, with the first two filed by Ruckus Networks Finland’s Fairspectrum in docket 15-319. Other filings were expected, including by some of the main companies that have made clear they plan to serve as SASs, including Amdocs, CommScope, Federated Wireless, Google and Sony.

Dave Wright, president of the CBRS Alliance, told us that compared to the TV white spaces, which has yet to see a large number of devices available, CBRS seems certain to be a hit and there is widespread interest. “What the FCC did in July was lay out the next steps for commercialization of the band,” Wright said. The notice moves companies “toward our goal of commercializing CBRS late this year,” he said. “What we are most pleased about is this coming out of the lab test phase. It will allow industry to continue to move forward.”

The Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology said in a July 27 public notice they will “assess and test each conditionally approved SAS” prior to final certification. “This is intended to ensure that, through robust, rapid testing in a variety of real-world scenarios, the SAS is operating in compliance with Commission rules,” the PN said. “ICD will complement the testing done in a controlled laboratory setting by providing a real-world environment to assess certain aspects of compliance with the Commission’s rules that cannot be effectively verified under laboratory testing.”

“We now have the guidance from the Commission on the general parameters and proposal requirements for ICD,” Wright blogged after the PN. He said the alliance “will ensure that we are fully prepared to make the best use of the ICD opportunity to prove out the various systems, interfaces, and programs that will make full commercial service a reality as quickly as possible."

Meanwhile, AT&T selected Samsung Electronics America and CommScope on its first deployment in the CBRS band. Samsung will provide the CBRS-compliant radios and base-station equipment, and CommScope will act as SAS administrator, AT&T said. “We will start by using LTE in CBRS Spectrum and then migrate to 5G,” AT&T said. “We will primarily use the CBRS solution to deliver home and enterprise broadband services.”

“Ruckus Networks is very pleased that the Commission has recently laid out a path to initial commercial deployments in the band, but had originally expected that such operations would have commenced by this time,” said a filing Monday. “We hope that all of the parties involved in the standardization and authorization of CBRS services, federal and industry, will work together to launch initial commercial services in 2018 and proceed swiftly to full commercial operations in the band shortly thereafter, while ensuring that all of the component systems and incumbent protections are functioning as intended.”