CBRS Use Doubling Monthly Even Before FCC PAL Auction
With the FCC auction of priority access licenses (PAL) to start in July, and companies using the general authorized access (GAA) tier, speakers on a FierceWireless webinar Thursday saw growing interest in the citizens broadband radio service band. Speakers from three of the five FCC-authorized spectrum access system (SAS) administrators, CommScope, Federated Wireless and Google, said they are demonstrating CBRS will live up to the hype.
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It's “surprisingly successful, particularly considering the restraints of COVID,” said Preston Marshall, engineering director at Google. CBRS “certainly provides people a lot of choices they didn’t have before,” he said. “We’re doubling deployments … about every month,” he said: The “ecosystem” is growing. In just three months, “we’ve completely moved past the question of does it work,” he said.
CBRS has advantages over Wi-Fi, said Dustin LaMascus, Nokia head-business development, private wireless. “I always joke and say, ‘Wi-Fi brought a knife to a gunfight,’” he said. “The spectrum underlying Wi-Fi isn’t the quality of spectrum underlying CBRS, and with that you can get predictability, high bandwidth, mobility, low latency, good outdoor coverage.” One use is Nokia's solution for companies to take employee temperatures.
Federated has more than 15,000 devices attached to its system, said Chief Technology Officer Kurt Schaubach. It's working with companies applying for licenses in the PALs auction. “We need to see more device penetration,” he said.
Wi-Fi “keeps getting asked to do things … it really wasn’t designed to do,” said Steve Wimsatt, CommScope senior director-business development and alliances. As more people rely on mobile communications, they need choices beyond Wi-Fi or carrier networks, he said. “Wi-Fi is going to keep getting better, 5G is coming,” he said. “CBRS offers a unique solution” that “provides the reliability, the predictability of LTE.” One advantage is “true 5G” is “off in the future” and a CBRS network can be built today, Wimsatt.
Many users won’t need to buy PALs, but they are important in getting some equipment makers interested in the band, Marshall said. That’s why “we have Nokia sitting at the table,” he said. Everyone thinks “I separately need protection to have good performance,” he said: “That’s almost an emotional reaction.” Companies should study their needs before they buy a countywide license, he said. Marshall said an FCC delay of the CBRS auction (see 2005180054) would have implications for the C-band auction. “I’ll be glad when the auction is over because the questions will go away,” he said.
There’s a “need for simplicity,” Schaubach said. “We really don’t call it CBRS” for business customers, he said. “We focus on this being a connectivity solution,” he said: “We talk about the unique aspects of CBRS spectrum, its deterministic access, the fact that the spectrum is very high quality. It’s unique in its nature over Wi-Fi because of the ... access, the fact that you can do 4G and 5G.”
The pandemic is accelerating the move to digital and automation, Schaubach said. “Our business certainly hasn’t slowed.” Future uses include all the things “coming with 5G,” like artificial intelligence and augmented and virtual reality, he said. He predicted strong interest in the PALs, including by service providers buying the licenses and offering managed networks for businesses.