“Raising CBRS Power Levels Would Undermine its Vital Spectrum Sharing Capabilities”

By: Armando Montalvo, Chief Technology Officer, DGS

“At the 13th Americas Spectrum Management Conference, Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez acknowledged a fundamental truth about our current spectrum landscape: “In today’s spectrum reality, shared spectrum has to be part of the discussion.” Simply put, no more greenfield spectrum is available, so we must prioritize innovative solutions that allow multiple users to share the same frequencies.

Thankfully, we have a clear blueprint for success via the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), where a shared spectrum framework is actively helping deliver wireless connectivity for a wide range of operators and consumers alike, without interfering with military radar and other national security operations.

Commissioner Gomez explained that “CBRS has demonstrated that shared spectrum schemes are not only possible but successful and can scale up to incorporate developments, protect incumbents, create more access, and encourage new market entrants.”

In contrast to high-powered, exclusively licensed spectrum—which typically takes several years, comes with increasingly huge costs to relocate existing users, and is often only utilized by a small handful of massive companies—shared spectrum allows for more diverse applications, more competition between users, and more innovation in the technologies critical to America’s wireless future. It also takes less time to deploy and reduces costs, which delivers faster results for consumers.”