CBRS Market Evolves

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CBRS has the potential to democratize parts of the wireless industry by giving non-operator entities the ability to deploy and operate their own networks, if they’re game. The analysts at SNS Telecom project that by next year 90 percent of new smartphones sold in the U.S. will support the CBRS band, but that does not mean they will automatically connect to private CBRS networks. 

The OnGo Alliance, an industry consortium formed to promote CBRS use cases and deployments, has defined several ways to enable CBRS roaming. 

One scenario is called the service provider use case, meaning that a mobile or cable network operator deploys a CBRS network and provisions devices to roam between a public network and a private network with a separate core. 

Verizon, DISH Network, Comcast, Charter and Cox are well positioned to do this because they were the biggest buyers of CBRS spectrum licenses in FCC Auction 105. Comcast has tested a private CBRS network at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, but so far the other big license winners seem more focused on using their CBRS spectrum in their public networks.  

DISH has put a new spin on service provider CBRS use cases by partnering with Helium, which rewards individuals with cryptocurrency when they deploy CBRS hotspots in their homes and businesses, and then offload carrier traffic. RIght now, Helium’s hotspots only support LTE (despite the 5G branding) and DISH’s network only supports 5G, so actual offload probably has not started yet. 

The OnGo Alliance also defines a multi-subscription use case, which means the end user device has dual credentials and therefore can be authenticated to two separate networks. Recent versions of the iPhone and leading Android phones have dual SIM and/or eSIM capability, making this scenario increasingly possible for smartphones. This scheme seems to make the most sense for situations where users return repeatedly to a single location (like their workplace), making it worthwhile for them to insert a second SIM card or add another profile to their devices.

A third scenario defined by the OnGo Alliance is the neutral host model, which is well understood by companies in the wireless infrastructure industry. Crown Castle has already deployed a neutral host CBRS network at 345 Park Avenue in New York, in partnership with the Rudin Family, which owns the building. 

Another architecture for CBRS roaming has been created by a partnership between AWS, Athonet, Syniverse and Federated Wireless. The technology, outlined in May by The Mobile Network, promises seamless roaming for single SIM devices. Athonet’s Nanda Menon, SVP corporate development, explained the technology on LinkedIn, saying the primary use case is to keep devices connected to private networks even in a public carrier’s coverage area. This could be desirable if the private networks house mission critical applications, he explained. 

Ukama offers global SIM

Ukama, the latest company to join the DIY LTE network movement popularized by Pollen Mobile and Helium’s FreedomFi, is selling a global SIM card it says will enable devices to move from private CBRS networks to and from public networks in 130 countries, thanks to agreements with telco aggregators. 

Ukama’s founder, Ali Kashif, has been working to democratize cellular since 2014, when he founded Endaga to create a platform for entrepreneurs who wanted to build cellular networks in remote communities. Endaga and Kashif became part of Facebook within two years, and Kashif led the social media giant’s OpenCellular project and developed open source code for the Telecom Infra Project. 

Now he’s started Ukama, which is validating its market through crowd sourcing platform, Crowd Supply, even though it says it already has funding. Crowd Supply told us the Ukama indoor base stations are as easy to install as a WiFi access point, and include an embedded LTE core. Ukama is targeting IoT entrepreneurs and people who want to boost coverage in remote locations.

Veteran telecom industry editor and journalist Martha DeGrasse is an Inside Towers Contributing Analyst with features appearing monthly. DeGrasse owns Network Builder Reports and contributes regularly to several publications. She was formerly a writer and editor with RCR Wireless and a TV business news producer.

By Martha DeGrasse, Inside Towers Contributing Analyst

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