CBRS Has Scant Role Early for In-Building Connections, Connect (X) Told

Private LTE and the citizens broadband radio service won’t be a major factor for in-building connectivity for years to come, speakers warned during the third installment Tuesday of Connect (X), the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s virtual trade show. The FCC is to start an auction Thursday of priority access licenses (see 2007200049).

Connectivity Wireless has deployed CBRS networks but sees continuing uncertainty for enterprise customers, said Steven Morris, senior vice president-engineering and construction. “They’re still looking for that killer application or real driver for them to spend their money on it,” he said. “We’re still kind of waiting for it to make sense. It’s pretty complex.”

The companies Connectivity works with all are looking at 3.5 GHz. “CBRS is going to be more for mission-critical devices,” Morris said. “I don’t see it as something that’s going to be able to replace Wi-Fi. You still have a lot of legacy devices out there.” CBRS offers dedicated, secure bandwidth and better coverage than Wi-Fi and makes the most sense for critical devices, he said: “It’s not just having a voice call or pulling up something on the internet.”

Advanced RF Technologies Vice President Greg Najjar recalled a recent lengthy conversation with a real estate developer about the potential benefits of CBRS in buildings the developer manages. “That we spent 45 minutes” talking “just shows you it’s not ready,” he said of CBRS. Najjar said he can explain LTE or a 5G distributed antenna system (DAS) in five minutes.

Art King, Corning Optical director-enterprise services, said some businesses are deploying CBRS if they have “a specific business application” that Wi-Fi can’t satisfy. He advises larger customers to experiment with CBRS rather than deploy it now: “Learn about it and understand it before you make any moves.” Carriers will use CBRS to “boost” their networks in conjunction with licensed spectrum rather than stand-alone deployments, he said.

Zayo didn’t prepare for a pandemic where almost everyone had to work at home, President Jack Waters said in a keynote conversation with WIA President Jonathan Adelstein. “Somewhere in the write-ups of our policies, the word pandemic did show up, but I’m not sure we really knew what it would mean,” Waters said. About 500 workers for the fiber company are still in the field, but Zayo is mostly remote, he said: “We really have proven that working remotely is a very, very viable way to work.” A few employees have had COVID-19, and there have been no serious cases, he said.

Local government permitting offices are mostly open and siting projects isn’t a problem, Waters said. In places like downtown San Francisco, Zayo has been able to do work it could have never done before, he said. “That won’t continue as people go back to work.” Waters worries about new shutdowns and new risks as cases spike in most of the U.S.

The move to 5G in the U.S. was slowed by T-Mobile and Sprint combining, Waters said. “There’s a lot of changes and different thinking coming.” As long as devices drive demand, “5G happens,” he said: “It’s a question of when. It’s a question of how fast.” Tight capital markets caused by the pandemic could slow investments by major carriers, he said.

Speakers on a second panel said COVID-19 continues to change the way companies are doing business.

“The pandemic has definitely taken its toll on the bottom line,” said Dan Kunz, Crosslink Wireless chief operating officer. The company uses smaller crews and more trucks to keep workers safe, he said. “Customers and clients don’t really seem to understand that,” he said: “As our costs go up, their costs have to go up.”

FieldCLIX, which provides software for infrastructure companies, found it's easier to work with some firms as they hit a “pause” in their business, said Duane Kingma, co-CEO. “There was kind of an increase in availability that was probably of benefit to us in getting more time with our clients and fewer distractions for them.” Customers are also more interested in using new software and technology as they work remotely, he said.

The pandemic meant rethinking travel policies at Wireless Services, a DAS integration company, said Kent Smith, vice president-operations. “Being able to use platforms like Zoom … we’ve actually been able to grow our pipeline during the pandemic, surprisingly enough,” he said: The company is relying more on local crews for installations and “doing as much stuff remotely as we can.”