WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2024 — The Federal Communications Commission wants to modernize its spectrum-sharing rules. The agency on Friday asked for comments on a proposal to codify current means of preventing interference, as well as other changes and an open study of increasing power levels in the band.
The Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) used a tiered licensing system in which established government users, priority license holders, and general access users shared 150 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band.
Each tier takes precedence over the one below it, meaning that a general access user cannot, for example, conflict with a licensee with priority. Priority licenses were auctioned in 2020, and companies such as wireless broadband providers can use the spectrum for free on a general access basis.
The Announcement accepted cited a report saying that by the end of last year, over 370,000 CBRS devices were in use by 1,000 operators.
The current means of protecting the Department of Defense’s radars are “dynamic protection zones” that are activated when military systems come online and exclude commercial users. The agency recently Changes made This reduced the size of these areas and expanded uninterrupted coverage to millions of consumers.
This system – used by all current systems controlling CBRS access – was introduced in 2018 through an exemption from a more stringent protocol, and the FCC wants to make the DPA method mandatory for all current and future systems of this type.
The agency also noted that there was some disagreement about whether to increase maximum power levels in the CBRS band and requested comments on whether or not to allow higher power devices.
The major mobile phone providers have urged The FCC is expected to increase power levels in the CBRS band, making the spectrum more suitable for widespread 5G coverage. The 3.5 GHz band is right in the middle of the band and is considered the ideal combination of speed and coverage area for 5G.
Cable companies that use the CBRS spectrum to offer certain broadband and mobile services prefer to retain Power level low to prevent interference from larger carriers.
“We encourage the FCC to reject requests to increase power levels because doing so would fundamentally change the nature of the spectrum,” said a spokesman for Spectrum for the Future, a spectrum-sharing group that includes consumer groups and cable companies.
Commenters supporting higher power levels were invited to submit analyses that “address the impact of higher-power CBSDs on the wide variety of Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBS) operations already deployed in the 3.5 GHz band in reliance on existing rules,” the agency wrote.
The proposal also requested comments on a number of other changes, including harmonizing federal protection methods with the adjacent 3.45 GHz band, mandating a planning portal for certain dynamic protection areas, and other modernization efforts. Comments are due 30 days after the article’s publication in the Federal Register.
