Twenty-five organizations have told the FCC they oppose potential changes to the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) framework. The companies and trade associations say that the changes would upend the goals for which CBRS was developed.
“Proposals to significantly increase power levels for CBRS Devices (CBSDs) and significantly relax emission limits across the band would transform CBRS into yet another high-power, macro cellular band,” say the groups in a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. They say such changes “would fundamentally modify CBRS licenses and undermine the Commission’s bipartisan vision for CBRS as a lower-power, small-cell band that supports broad access and numerous applications.”
The Commission has already made 380 MHz of 3 GHz mid-band spectrum available for high power, macro cellular services, including by relocating and compressing military operations out of the 3.45-3.55 GHz band, the groups point out. “We would note that these allocations were in addition to the mobile carriers’ existing spectrum holdings, completing a portfolio of low, mid, and high-band spectrum holdings. By contrast, the low-power, localized CBRS ecosystem only has access to 150 MHz of spectrum, which is also utilized by the mobile carriers, and CBRS access is preemptible by incumbent DoD operations,” they write.
They urge the agency to reject “misguided attempts to drastically raise power levels and emission limits in the band.”
The letter was signed by Amazon.com Services LLC; American Library Association; Barich, Inc.; Benton Institute for Broadband & Society; Cambium Networks, Ltd.; Celona, Inc.; Charter Communications, Inc.; Comcast Corporation; Cox Communications, Inc.; Deere & Company; Digital Global Systems; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company; Imagine Wireless; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mediacom Communications Corporation; Miami-Dade Aviation; Department Midcontinent Communications; NCTA – The Internet & Television Association; Open Technology Institute at New America; Public Knowledge; The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition; Shure Incorporated; Spectrum for the Future; Tarana Wireless; and WISPA – The Association for Broadband without Boundaries.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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