Regardless of FCC Policy Calls, CBRS Promises Significant Unlicensed Spectrum, Say Advocates

With a commissioner vote next week on revised rules for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, CBRS advocates said Monday the band is poised to be a big deal regardless of the outcome (see 1810110068). The FCC fight has been over the priority access licenses to be sold in each market, but 80 MHz remains for general access, unlicensed use, a Monday webinar heard.

If no PALs in a market are sold, 150 MHz will be available there for unlicensed use, noted Iain Gillott, president of consulting firm iGR. That compares to the 70 MHz available in the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band and 80 MHz available for unlicensed in the 5 GHz band, he said. “It’s a very significant amount of spectrum,” Gillott said. “That’s one of the reasons that everyone has gotten excited about CBRS. … It’s very flexible.”

Business of all types are “keenly” interested in CBRS, said Kurt Schaubach, Federated Wireless chief technology officer. “The challenge with Wi-Fi is there just simply isn’t enough spectrum to keep up with use,” he said. “The bands become congested and the service unpredictable and unreliable.”

CBRS “unlocks the potential to offer in-building wireless services that have not been [available] before,” Schaubach said. Distributed antenna systems are available in about 2 percent of U.S. buildings, he said. For almost everyone, the systems are too expensive to deploy, he said. Federated-supported research found that a DAS costs $3.27 and small cells $1.96 per square-foot for a hospital, versus $1.24 for CBRS, Schaubach said. Cost differences are similar for other buildings, he said.

David Fox, American Tower director-business development, said CBRS can be used as part of a package that will mean smarter buildings at lower costs. The cost per square foot will come down “significantly,” he said. Most new technologies drive up costs, he said: CBRS is “going to solve problems and cost less.”

“You are going to want to take advantage of every piece of free spectrum" available, including CBRS, Fox said. “How do you manage all of the data coming through your building, generated by tenants? … That’s by taking advantage of everything you can get.” Building owners will have to triage, he said. Routine communications can be directed over traditional Wi-Fi spectrum, more critical communications over the CBRS network, he said.

Some CBRS-capable handsets are coming out this year, with more available in the spring, and it will take several years for the devices to be widespread, Fox said. That shouldn’t deter building owners from putting in CBRS, he said: “There will be chipsets going into laptops … other smart devices.”

The 3.5 GHz band will have enough use worldwide that the costs of equipment should be low, Gillott said. “There’s enough commonality there to get significant scale on equipment.”

Meanwhile, an AT&T official told an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai the company plans to start testing CBRS equipment in its labs early next year and “to roll out commercial CBRS technology in U.S. cities beginning in late 2019,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-258.

Competitive carriers supported the FCC proposal​​​​​​​ to license PALs at the county level: “Mid-band spectrum, including 3.5 GHz, is critical to the business case for next-generation services.” County-sized PALs “balance” interests and will “ensure all carriers can use this slice of mid-band spectrum to effectively deploy next-generation technologies and 5G services in rural and remote areas,” said Bluegrass Wireless, the Competitive Carriers Association, Shentel, U.S. Cellular and others. CTIA officials told aides to the commissioners revised rules will “better align the licensing framework for this band with international developments and will facilitate both targeted use cases and wide-area networks for the provisioning of 5G.”