The Competitive Carriers Association and CTIA, the Wireless Association, want the FCC to quickly finalize the rules for the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band.
To that end, they proposed a compromise for Priority Access License (PAL) geographic license areas. They’ve agreed the agency should license PALs using Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the top 306 Cellular Market Areas (CMAs) and use county-based geographic area licenses in the remaining 428 CMAs.
The new proposal will reduce the more than 74,000 license areas and more than 500,000 licenses to roughly 2,700 license areas and 19,000 total licenses, which will dramatically reduce auction complexity for the Commission and bidders, according to CCA and CTIA. They also believe the compromise “largely eliminates border interference issues posed by census tract licensing in urban areas.”
The compromise, they believe, paves the way for swift action while balancing the needs of a range of stakeholders expected to participate in the 3.5 GHz auction. It promotes investment in the band and “is a far better solution than the existing census tract licensing framework,” they tell the FCC in a filing.
CTIA and T-Mobile previously proposed lengthening license terms to 10 years and increasing license areas by using traditional PALs to spur investment in the CBRS band. Opponents, generally smaller wireless and broadband companies, call that a giveaway to the largest carriers that would essentially convert the band to 5G use, which, they say, was not the Commission’s intent when it opened up the band.
The agency hopes to finalize rules by this summer to govern the CBRS. The band will use a new Spectrum Access System to coordinate dynamic frequency use by incumbent and new users, as well as an Environmental Sensing Capability system. This will detect when incumbent federal users are transmitting on the spectrum, Inside Towers reported.
April 25, 2018
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