CBRS

Federated Wireless said improvements in citizens broadband radio service sharing mean CBRS users will see “at least 60% and potentially as much as 80% improvement in spectrum availability” in areas where Navy radars must be protected. Federated has seen “zero incidents of harmful interference to critical DOD operations” as part of its CBRS offerings, said Chief Technology Officer Kurt Schaubach. “We see this new set of CBRS enhancements as a milestone in the maturity of spectrum sharing,” he said. “Through the enhancements Federated Wireless has advanced, the user experience with CBRS spectrum will be on par with licensed spectrum that is many times more costly while still assuring robust shared access for incumbents and commercial users alike,” Federated said.

Samsung Electronics America representatives met with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel about the company’s request for a waiver for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). The company refuted concerns raised about the potential interference threat to CBRS (see 2404090058). Samsung was “the first phone manufacturer to offer a phone operating in CBRS in the United States and a leading supplier of CBRS base stations around the country,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-93: “Samsung has every incentive to ensure its proposed radio does not intentionally interfere with its and others’ CBRS radios.” The waiver request “has been pending more than 600 days and is ripe for grant,” the company said.

CTIA and its major members agreed that grants of special temporary authority (STA) are the best method of getting “inventory” spectrum into play, in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 24-72. Others continue to stress the benefits of dynamic sharing and other mechanisms (see 2404090045). The FCC sought comment in March as the agency marked the one-year anniversary of its general auction authority expiring.

NCTA officials and members spoke with aides to all five FCC commissioners about Samsung Electronics America’s request for a waiver for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). Cable companies objected earlier (see [Ref:2401050052). Technical analysis demonstrates that Samsung’s multiband radio “and others sure to follow based on its theory would increase the median noise in the CBRS band by roughly 11 dB, harming the services existing CBRS users are providing to consumers,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-98. Approval of the waiver “would set a troubling precedent by allowing future parties to disregard emissions limits and other protections, undermining the Commission’s ability to manage interference.” Among those represented on the calls were Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Enterprises.

Commenters disagreed sharply on what mechanisms the FCC should use to make available unassigned licenses in its inventory absent general auction authority. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 24-72. The FCC sought comment in March on the first anniversary of the expiration of its general auction authority (see 2403070062). Wireless carriers said grants of special temporary authority (STA) are the best alternative. Unlicensed advocates hailed the benefits of dynamic spectrum sharing.

DOD on Wednesday released a redacted version of the Emerging Mid-Band Radar Spectrum Sharing Feasibility Assessment (EMBRSS), which DOD and NTIA forwarded to Congress in September (see 2309280087). The report examines military systems located in lower 3 GHz spectrum, with an eye on potential sharing but not on clearing as sought by CTIA and carriers.

Samsung Electronics America and others refuted objections NCTA raised against Samsung's request for an FCC waiver for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see [Ref:2309130041). “Samsung’s proposed 3.5/3.7 GHz multiband radio will have substantially the same radiofrequency profile as a standalone 3.7 GHz radio collocated with a standalone 3.5 GHz radio” with no “practical impact” on CBRS deployments “when compared to the deployment of two standalone radios,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-93. Ericsson, Qualcomm and Verizon also signed the filing. NCTA opposition “in the face of measured test data demonstrates this is best understood as a collateral attack on the Commission’s rule limiting the out-of-band emissions from 3.7 GHz base stations into the CBRS band,” they said. The general objection to a current FCC rule should be dismissed as “irrelevant and improper to this waiver proceeding, especially because Samsung is not seeking a waiver of the 3.7 GHz OOBE limits.”

CTIA is hopeful a legislative vehicle will be found soon that will restore general FCC auction authority, more than a year after it lapsed, CTIA Senior Vice President-Spectrum Umair Javed said Wednesday during a Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy webcast. “It sort of feels like there’s a lot of smoke, and maybe not fire yet,” Javed said. He hopes a bill floated by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will provide the needed “spark.”

NTIA is facing increasing pressure from carriers for additional spectrum for full-power licensed use, and from interests favoring a more open-ended approach, especially in the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, as the agency finalizes an implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy, due for release March 14. DOD is defending its systems in the bands targeted by carriers. Meanwhile, there are questions about how much longer Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, will remain at the agency after the implementation plan is released, industry officials told us.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation called on regulators to rethink their spectrum sharing approach, refocusing on a top tier providing licenses for full-power use of a band, with reliable access at all times. “The dichotomy between dynamic spectrum sharing and exclusive licensing is a false one,” ITIF said in a report released Monday: “Reliable, full-power access is possible within a dynamic sharing framework if the FCC auctions super-priority rights to commercial users.” ITIF cited the model provided by the citizens broadband radio service band, which offered three tiers, with priority access licenses (PALs) sold in an FCC auction, with lesser rights than the incumbent Navy systems the rules are designed to protect. “We should not confuse the particulars of that band with the principles of the dynamic sharing system,” the report said. “In a band with significantly fewer incumbency interests, rights amenable to proponents of exclusive, shared, and unlicensed spectrum can coexist within a dynamic sharing system with only a minor alteration: Instead of just protecting incumbents and auctioning PALs that are secondary to the incumbents’ rights, the FCC should also auction licenses for the same type of rights the Navy has in the CBRS band.” ITIF noted widespread industry criticism of how CBRS works. Part of the reason “for decrying CBRS is that it should hardly qualify as ‘sharing’ when the federal incumbent retains the right to do whatever it wants whenever and wherever it wants,” the report said. ITIF noted there have been no reports of Navy systems suffering harmful interference since CBRS was launched. “Any party that thinks the Navy has reliable, full-power access in the current CBRS band should leap at the opportunity to get the same deal in another band,” ITIF said.