Small Licenses in CBRS Band Outside the International Norm, CTIA Says

The FCC should approve larger geographic license sizes for the priority access licenses it sells as part of the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band (CBRS), CTIA said in docket 17-258. Under current rules, the licenses would be sold as census tracts. “A new report by Analysys Mason shows that the current licensing scheme … with 74,000 separate license areas … and an average population of 4,400 per area, is significantly smaller than the license areas used for comparable spectrum in the rest of the world,” CTIA said. “The Commission should move expeditiously to make mid-band spectrum available for flexible use, and it should release the spectrum with rules that will support next-generation networks. Nations around the world are adopting larger license sizes as a way to promote prompt and efficient buildout of 5G networks.”