ICYMI: Panelists Warn Against Raising CBRS Power Levels During Discussion of New Study by Valo Analytica

ICYMI: Panelists Warn Against Raising CBRS Power Levels During Discussion of New Study by Valo Analytica

For Immediate Release

April 29, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Last week, Spectrum for the Future’s Policy Director, Dave Wright, joined Mark Radabaugh, President of Amplex Internet, and Johnathan Lewis, Director of Innovation Division at Miami International Airport, for an in-depth discussion of Valo Analytica’s latest study about the damage that would be caused by raising CBRS power levels.

Hosted by Broadband Breakfast, participants highlighted the important role CBRS plays across the country, with Wright reminding viewers that the “United States is actually leading globally in private cellular. And it’s leading because CBRS… is the most popular band globally for private network deployments.”

Participants also expressed concern about calls to raise power levels. Lewis admitted to being shocked at what the study found, even as a major CBRS user and proponent of low-power, saying that he didn’t think “it would end up being as bad as this particular simulation showed in regards to what this would do to our ability to leverage CBRS at our airport.”

When asked how consistent, high-power interference would affect Amplex’s customers and operations, Radabaugh said they would essentially lose their internet connection. “If you work at home, you don’t have your internet for the day, or for however long this lasts. It also reduces speeds. If you’re lucky all you get is some slightly reduced performance. If you’re unlucky, we lose connectivity altogether,” he explained.

Wright closed the discussion by recapping the many users and uses of CBRS and how the band, dubbed “The Innovation Band”, is empowering opportunity and innovation across the country.

“We’re doing amazing things with CBRS and it’s because of the low-power nature and the way that makes the spectrum much more useful to so many different users and uses in the same geographic area. And if you introduce these macrocellular powers, then you kill all of that. And there’s no other band for CBRS to migrate to. There’s no other suitable band with an ecosystem that we could move this to. Let’s not snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory, which is what we have today,” said Wright.

Watch the replay and read the full study to learn more.