Preserving the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) is vital to sustaining America’s leadership in both higher education and wireless innovation. From rural research hubs to urban campuses, institutions across the country are harnessing CBRS to transform connectivity for students, faculty and surrounding communities. Their CBRS networks combine secure, high-speed connectivity with hands-on learning opportunities to advance research, enhance education, and bridge the digital divide for students. As policymakers consider the future of spectrum allocation, the success of these innovative deployments underscores the need to protect the existing CBRS framework – a valuable, American-made asset that has proven to foster innovation, strengthen infrastructure, and ensure America’s next generation of learners and innovators are prepared for success.

“It is a critical time for spectrum innovation and policy in the U.S., with an emphasis on sharing and coexistence in the mid-band frequency range. The proposed testbed, S3, will enable in-depth studies of sharing in two mid-band frequency bands: the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band, 3.55 – 3.7 GHz, and the unlicensed but shared 6 GHz band. Experiments and data collected from S3 will be made available for the academic community to further research in spectrum sharing and coexistence. The lessons learned will inform dynamic spectrum sharing options in new bands such as 7.125 – 8.4 GHz.”

Dr. Monisha Ghosh, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, July 10, 2024

“The biggest single advantage is the ability to involve students every step of the way – from research and analysis to use cases and deployment. Cal Poly students will take these unique learnings about CBRS 5G as they begin careers in a myriad of industries.”

Bill Britton, Vice President of Information Technology, Chief Information Officer, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), November 21, 2022

“With the rise of unlicensed cellular spectrum and private mobile networks, communities like the Discovery Park District now have the power to chart their own course in terms of what advanced services and applications they can deliver to their members. From students getting home broadband for the first time to the Industrial IoT, the sheer diversity of customers and application requirements demonstrates how CBRS-based technologies serve businesses, schools, industrial organizations, and municipalities alike.”

David Broecker, Chief Innovation and Collaboration Officer, Purdue Research Foundation, July 25, 2022

“Every college and university has experienced dramatic increases in wireless needs from our mobile-first communities. Rather than providing two separate infrastructures throughout our campuses — cellular and Wi-Fi — the holy grail has always been for a single, common network delivering both cellular and high-speed private Wi-Fi. The recent availability of CBRS, together with our collaboration with Internet2, DISH Wireless and Cisco, makes this vision a reality by delivering a private Duke wireless network over the carrier-grade cellular infrastructure that stretches throughout our campus.”

Tracy Futhey, Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Duke University, May 4, 2022

“The Samsung and Amdocs solution has provided our end users with a reliable and sustainable solution for both CBRS and WiFi connectivity. The deployment was on schedule and supported the various ‘use cases’ on the campus.”

Jahmal Cue, Senior Network and Infrastructure Manager, Howard University, March 17, 2022

“One area we are working in now with several industry and government partners is co-channel spectrum sharing. CBRS represents a step forward in spectrum sharing technology, and we believe it is possible to further expand access to the valuable spectrum with more intelligent, dynamic allocation.”

Jeff Reed, Wireless Expert and Professor, Virginia Tech, September 22, 2020

“CBRS will play a key role in local wireless coverage, from rural broadband to enterprise private networks. A priority access license is a great asset for the university and can bring a unique capability to CCI’s 5G testbed that supports research and innovation across Virginia.”

Luiz DaSilva, Professor and Executive Director of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), Virginia Tech, September 22, 2020