CBRS

Comments on the FCC's proposal to extend the priority access licenses (PAL) in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band duration from three years to 10 would be due Dec. 28, with replies due 30 days after, said an NPRM to be published in Tuesday's Federal Register. The agency also suggests eliminating the requirement PALs automatically terminate at a license term's end. It seeks comment on alternative approaches to license term lengths, such as three years for some PALs and longer for others and on whether to increase the licensed area size to partial economic areas.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau defined the enhanced specialized mobile radio (ESMR) dividing line in the 800 MHz band for Canada border regions (CBRs) one through six, said a Friday public notice in docket 02-55. It accepted the 800 MHz transition administrator’s recommendation with changes proposed by Sprint. The line separates ESMR and non-ESMR systems in the CBRs by assigning non-ESMR licensees to replacement channels in the lower segment of the 800 MHz band while maintaining the upper portion of the band for licensees operating ESMR systems.

NTIA should look into whether federal agencies with compatible missions and using similar technologies could move into frequency sharing and consolidation. That and other Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee recommendations are heading to NTIA for consideration. CSMAC members Friday adopted subcommittee findings on 5G, band key characteristics, enforcement and spectrum efficiency. Along with recommendations for more emphasis on receiver standards and NTIA opening notices of inquiry on bands that could be considered for sharing (see 1711150019), members recommended NTIA look for ways to make federal procurement processes more responsive to market-based incentives to invest in new technology.

CenturyTel Broadband Services got an experimental license from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology to test various prototype radio systems in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service band. The CBRS tests are to take place in Oregon and Washington state. CenturyTel sought confidential treatment of its application.

Commissioner Brendan Carr told a Competitive Carriers Association conference Thursday he has been tasked by Chairman Ajit Pai with overseeing the FCC’s push to overhaul the agency’s wireless infrastructure rules. Pai said the first of the wireless infrastructure items will get a vote at the Nov. 16 FCC meeting (see 1710260049). Carr's remarks were streamed from Fort Worth.

The FCC approved an NPRM Tuesday proposing to rewrite parts of rules for the shared 3.5 GHz band, over a dissent by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn concurred rather than approve, saying she would have preferred the FCC left the rules as is. The votes were as predicted, with all three Republicans voting yes (see 1710180043). Both Democrats voted against the FCC allowing stations to host studios outside their communities of license (see 1710240062).

Partial economic area (PEA) or other larger license sizes would mean carriers are the only ones likely to buy priority access licenses (PALs) in the 3.5 GHz, Citizens Broadband Radio Service band, said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. Commissioners are to consider an NPRM proposing larger license sizes and other changes to the citizens broadband radio service rules at their Oct. 24 meeting, with Democrats skeptical of changes (see 1710120009). The Los Angeles PEA covers the entire metropolitan area, includes Riverside County and extends to the Nevada border, Calabrese said in a filing in docket 17-258. “It would be far easier for carriers to assemble larger contiguous areas by acquiring census tracts than it would be for hundreds or thousands of other potential users noted above to either win a PEA or county license at auction,” Calabrese said. “Subleasing small areas of spectrum from a big mobile carrier, through a secondary market transaction, is unrealistic both because of high transaction costs and because carriers have a disincentive to allow competitors with or substitutes for their services to access spectrum at a reasonable price.” The Wireless ISP Association, meanwhile, said the FCC should keep the current rules in place. A plan backed by Commissioner Mike O’Rielly “and the mobile industry would overturn pro-innovation rules adopted unanimously by the FCC -- twice -- in 2014 and 2015,” WISPA said in a Monday statement. “Dozens of companies are already making significant investments in the CBRS band, counting on the current rules.” WISPA also urged the FCC to approve the Broadband Access Coalition’s proposal for the 3.7-4.2 GHz band (see 1706210044). “Under mobile industry pressure, the FCC is prioritizing a much broader and more time-consuming review of multiple spectrum bands, which would lead to years of regulatory delay and no near-term progress for rural America,” WISPA said.

Although dissents on NPRMs aren’t common, FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel continue to have big questions on the pending 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service NPRM, set for a vote Oct. 24, industry and agency officials said. CBRS rule changes primarily affect only one of the three tiers of the FCC’s sharing plan for the band, the priority access license (PAL) tier. Under the sharing plan, federal incumbents, followed by PAL holders and then general access users, would have top priority to use the spectrum.

The 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service Band has the potential to become a key band for 5G, Preston Marshall, principal wireless architect at Google, said at the DC5G conference Wednesday. If the FCC allows smaller license sizes, hotels like the Renaissance Washington, where the event took place, can set up their own networks independent of the carriers, Marshall said. “We’ve never had that.”

The FCC proposed changing rules for the 3.5 GHz shared band, providing larger licenses for the priority access licenses (PALs) that will be offered at auction to carriers and others. The change was largely expected based on earlier comments by Commissioner Mike O’Rielly (see 1708010058), who oversaw development of revised rules. The change was opposed by New America, General Electric and others hoping census tract-sized licenses would attract investment from owners of industrial facilities, plus schools, hospitals and others.