Thursday, October 20, 2016

Momentum Builds for Citizens' Band LTE (3.5 GHz)

The Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) Alliance, which was formed in February 2016 with the goal of making LTE-based solutions in the 3.5 GHz CBRS band widely available, announced the addition of Accelleran, Airspan Networks, American Tower Corp., AT&T, Baicells, CableLabs, Ericsson, ExteNet Systems, Nsight, Ranzure Networks, Rise Broadband, and ZTE as members. Founding members of the alliance include Access Technologies (Alphabet), Federated Wireless, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm and Ruckus Wireless (now part of Brocade).


“For LTE-based solutions in the shared CBRS band to be successful, we need a wide range of ecosystem partners, infrastructure, equipment and network providers, to work together closely,” said Michael Peeters, vice president Innovation Portfolio, Nokia and President of the CBRS Alliance. “We are thrilled to welcome all the new members to the CBRS Alliance and look forward to working together to provide solutions toward in-building and outdoor cellular coverage.”

“CBRS is creating opportunities to bring the benefits of LTE technology to a wider ecosystem,” said Neville Meijers, VP Business Development, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., and chairman of the board for the CBRS Alliance. “CBRS enables new kinds of deployments and business models, from LTE-based neutral hosts that can serve multiple service providers, to dedicated networks serving various entities such as enterprises or IoT verticals.”

http://www.cbrsalliance.org


  • In April 2015, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules for CBRS, which opens 150 MHz of spectrum (3550-3700 MHz) for commercial use — while providing necessary protection of incumbent users of the band. Spectrum access is actively coordinated based on priority and granular location, making previously allocated spectrum available to new entrants and services.