EchoStar aims to sell its remaining terrestrial wireless licenses within 16 months, it told the FCC in a waiver request posted Friday, as it also asked the agency to extend or drop those licenses' buildout deadlines and waive the discontinuance rule. If the waivers are granted, the company will sell its 700 MHz, paired AWS-3, citizens broadband radio service (CBRS), C-band, multichannel video distribution and data service (MVDDS), and millimeter-wave (mmWave) licenses by Sept. 1, 2028, it said in its request (docket 22-212). If those sales don't happen, EchoStar said it will conduct a private auction of the licenses by March 1, 2029.
Tarana Wireless representatives met with staff from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, including Chief Andrew Hendrickson, on the company’s next-generation fixed-wireless access technology. Among the topics discussed was how some providers are using the platform in BEAD projects, according to a filing last week in docket 17-258.
CEO John Mezzalingua and others from JMA Wireless met last week with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty to warn against higher power levels for operations in the citizens broadband radio service band. They discussed a recent study by Analysys Mason on the role of CBRS in manufacturing (see 2603250074) and “the detrimental impact raising power levels would have on the CBRS manufacturing community,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-258.
Advocates of the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) say they remain concerned about moves that the administration could make regarding the band that could threaten years of deployments. During a New America webcast Wednesday, experts said the two biggest threats are higher power levels (see 2604230073) and an AT&T proposal that the FCC move the service from 3.55-3.7 GHz to 3.1-3.3 GHz and reallocate the spectrum that CBRS now occupies for licensed use (see 2602100045).
Spectrum for the Future Policy Director Dave Wright warned Thursday that significantly higher power levels in the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) band could mean having to impose new restrictions in the shared band to protect naval radars. Wright and other experts at a Broadband Breakfast webinar discussed a March study by Valo Analytica on the net effects of increasing power levels (see 2603260005).
Andrew Clegg, co-founder of Valo Analytica, warned in an opinion piece this week against wireless industry efforts to rewrite the rules for the citizens broadband radio service band (see 2602100045). "Regulatory certainty over the band’s future would accelerate that investment significantly -- uncertainty does the opposite,” Clegg wrote. Changing CBRS rules at this stage “would strand existing deployments and freeze the very innovation the band was designed to foster,” he said. Clegg previously led spectrum efforts at Google. He said potential side effects would include "a 1,000-fold degradation of throughput at American manufacturing facilities, the loss of nearly a third of network capacity at a major international airport, and repeated broadband outages in rural communities with no alternative means to gain internet access.” The piece appeared in the Washington Examiner.
NTIA announced Tuesday that the 2.7 GHz band, a candidate to be reallocated for full-power licensed use, has cleared a key administration review and is a step closer to an auction. Meanwhile, the agency held a webinar Tuesday afternoon on the role played by unlicensed bands as the administration looks for others appropriate for licensed use.
The existing power limits on citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) spectrum are constraining its use by rural carriers, the Competitive Carriers Association said in a filing posted Monday in docket 17-258. The group told FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's office that higher power limits would give rural carriers greater geographic coverage and connectivity and enable greater speeds and capacity for customers. It added that competitive carriers increasingly rely on CBRS spectrum due to spectrum auction bidding credit levels that don't ensure competitive access to new spectrum resources and the larger license sizes in upcoming auctions, which drive up costs.
Spectrum for the Future warned Thursday about the negative effects of allowing higher power levels in the citizens broadband radio service band. If fewer than 2% of CBRS base stations were converted to high-power use, "there would be a loss of over 65,000 channels and a massive loss of data throughput across the CBRS ecosystem -- data loss that would slow network operation to a crawl," said the group, which commissioned the study by Valo Analytica. It cautioned against the negative effects for rural deployments and the use of CBRS in factories and airports.
The American Made 5G Coalition released a report this week projecting that more than 85% of private 5G networks deployed in U.S. factories by 2032 “will rely” on citizens broadband radio service spectrum, “almost all of which will use” the general authorized access tier. The report, by Analysys Mason, also found that 75% of private 5G networks in use today rely on CBRS. “A large, vibrant CBRS ecosystem has emerged, consisting largely of USA-based suppliers (in contrast to the public 5G ecosystem that is dominated by Chinese and European suppliers),” the coalition said.