CBRS

CenturyLink was “regrettably” unable to sign the proposed framework for the citizens broadband radio service band submitted to the FCC last week by the CBRS Coalition, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-258. CenturyLink said the coalition proposal, which called for five county-based priority access licenses (PALs) and two census tract-based PALs (see 1805100062) in every market, didn’t provide enough small licenses. “A minimum of 40 MHz of licensed spectrum is essential to enable effective deployment of a fixed wireless high-speed broadband service in rural areas, especially one that would meet Connect America Fund Phase II broadband service requirements,” the telco said. It assured the commission it's serious about using the 3.5 GHz band. “This spectrum provides a rare opportunity to help meet the nation’s critical need for broadband network investment in difficult-to-serve rural areas that will otherwise remain left behind,” the company said. “The Commission can understand the reason that CenturyLink sees the coalition’s proposal as insufficient[.] CenturyLink is actively testing fixed wireless broadband service in the 3.5-3.7 GHz band and is evaluating the delivery of wireless broadband speeds of 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.” NTIA, meanwhile, filed a letter at the FCC on technical aspects of the protection zones for DOD radar that are part of the rules for the band. NTIA also notified the FCC of a new exclusion zone for Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

An auction of priority access licenses (PAL) in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band may not happen until late next year, Mark Gibson, senior director-business development at CommScope, told the National Spectrum Managers Association Wednesday at its annual meeting. Fletcher Heald attorney Mitchell Lazarus warned the FCC is making more decisions based on politics rather than engineering.

The main wireless carrier associations and other groups said they met with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly on the latest discussions on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. O’Rielly, overseeing a rewrite of the CBRS rules, urged stakeholders to negotiate (see 1802130041). “The parties continued to discuss their respective positions regarding the geographic licensing areas for Priority Access Licenses in the 3.5 GHz band,” said a filing in docket 17-258. “The parties also continued to reiterate the importance of the 3.5 GHz band to serving a variety of business cases and deployment plans.” Officials from the Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, General Electric, NCTA, NTCA, the Rural Wireless Association and Wireless ISP Association attended. The principals met O’Rielly in April (see 1805010052).

The U.S. is moving toward creation of a national spectrum strategy that would predict spectrum trends and allow companies to do a better job of planning, said DOD spectrum chief Fred Moorefield at the National Spectrum Management Association annual conference Tuesday. “I think you'll see that coming out of the White House soon." He noted the Pentagon will update its own spectrum road map and action plan.

The American Petroleum Institute can't support a proposal last week by the Wireless ISP Association and others on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band because it would allow only two census-tract-sized priority access licenses (PALs) in each market (see 1805100062). The better proposal would provide four census-tract licenses in each market and four wide-area licenses, API said. “This would not only achieve a fair compromise with the large wireless carriers, but would allow at least 40 megahertz of CBRS spectrum for oil and gas industry entities and other industrial and critical-infrastructure operators to self-provision their own geographically-targeted private wireless … networks at their facilities throughout the United States,” API said Monday in docket 17-258. Meanwhile, Key Bridge Wireless and Fairspectrum, two prospective spectrum access system (SAS) administrators in the band, said census-tract PALs shouldn't be a concern. “Large mobile carriers now complain that licensing PALs according to census tracts is unworkable,” the two said. “While others have forcefully corrected these claims, we write to emphasize that no SAS administrator has claimed that incorporating census tracts into the SAS is too difficult and no SAS administrator has asked the Commission to change the size of PAL areas.”

Census tracts are likely to be a battleground in licensing the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, with the CBRS Coalition proposal explicitly including census tract licenses (see 1805100062), experts and insiders told us Friday. A rival plan from CTIA and the Competitive Carriers Association involves county-based and metropolitan statistical area licenses (see 1804230064). CTIA and CCA didn't comment Friday. The CBRS Coalition proposal contains a mix of licensing areas for everyone, emailed Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. "That is what a compromise is," he said. "It means everyone gets something." Parties who don't think census tracts are usable "don't have to bid on them," he said. That the CBRS Coalition is made up of interests ranging from small mobile carriers to electric co-ops points to the difficulty of getting them all on the same page, so the coalition's proposal was its bottom line, not a starting point for talks, said a Coalition member executive. The FCC might be able to come up with a third position, but that seems unlikely, the executive said, saying it's also unlikely CTIA and CCA can or will modify their position.

Chairman Ajit Pai has canceled most of the meetings she had scheduled with him since she returned to the FCC last year, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday during a news conference. Earlier in the week, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who's leaving, said she was unable to regularly schedule meetings with Pai (see 1805070036).

The CBRS Alliance, promoting the future use of the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, Tuesday launched the OnGo brand and a certification program for CBRS devices. Last month, the alliance unveiled network and coexistence baseline specifications. “I would compare this to Wi-Fi,” CBRS Alliance President Dave Wright said in an interview. “Everybody knows what Wi-Fi means. It’s a very versatile brand. It applies to all kinds of different applications of a technology and use cases.”

Charter Communications is testing of use of the 3.5 GHz spectrum in fixed wireless applications in some markets and mobility applications in others, like Tampa, it blogged Friday. It said the testing will help prepare for its mobile wireless service launch, expected in the middle of this year (see 1804270033). It said it has 200 citizens broadband radio service small cellsites deployed in Tampa in a variety of settings, and it's considering how the CBRS band could be part of its wireless operations. Charter said it plans ubiquitous wireless connectivity through a mix of Wi-Fi 4G, LTE and 5G

Negotiations on the future of the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band are on. FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly called in several principals last week for a meeting, said a filing in docket 17-258. The Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, General Electric, NCTA, NTCA, the Rural Wireless Association and the Wireless ISP Association attended. “The parties explained the importance of the 3.5 GHz band to serving a variety of business cases and deployment plans,” said a joint filing. “The parties specifically offered their perspectives on the geographic licensing areas for Priority Access Licenses in the 3.5 GHz band, consistent with their respective filings in this proceeding.”