Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) Spectrum & Private LTE

Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) occupies LTE bands 48 that has been allocated to low power cellular service in the United States. Spectrum allocation is tiered with two relevant tiers for LTE usage.

• Priority Access Licenses “PAL” are non-renewable authorization to use a 10 MHz channel within the 3550-3650 MHz portion of the band. Each PAL is awarded in a competitive bid process.
• General Authorized Access “GAA” are dynamically allocated10 MHz channels within the 3550-3700 MHz portion of the band that do not conflict with any PAL. Any census tract can have from 80-100 MHz available for GAA usage depending on assigned PALs.

What’s different about CBRS is that mobile network infrastructure makes a request for spectrum from a Spectrum Allocation System “SAS,” a service that connects to a database that manages overall licensed usage.

CBRS opens up new business models and will accelerate both indoor and outdoor small cells because the typical concerns of co-channel interference are removed. Enterprise LTE with private mobile core and neutral host LTE are possible in the CBRS service bands.

The GAA framework to access CBRS spectrum offers enterprises reliable and high quality LTE spectrum without the prohibitive cost of traditional licensed spectrum. Since mobile operators plan to use CBRS band as well, enterprises that deploy private LTE will benefit from the economies of scale of the mobile industry.