CBRS brings exciting opportunities to all types of bidders
November 2020
The Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) Priority Access License(PAL) auction concluded in late August 2020. The auction had 271 qualified bidders including an array of companies from mobile network operators and cable companies, to electric utilities, universities, real estate firms, and large enterprises. The bids topped $4.5Billion and 228 bidders won 20,625 or 91% of the available licenses.
CBRS spectrum is 150 MHz of radio frequency from 3.55GHz to 3.7GHz authorized by the FCC for shared commercial use among three tiers of users: incumbent users, priority access license holders, and generally authorized unlicensed users. This lightly-licensed and re-leasable approach opened up the band for non-traditional bidders who did not have to be or seek eligible telecommunications carrier, or ETC, status as part of the auction process. Therefore, CBRS democratized spectrum enables new business models for non-traditional wireless players like hospitals, universities, utilities, and others. Finally, the elimination of spectrum partitioning by technology and service models will also accelerate new indoor and outdoor use cases.
Spectrum sharing drives new use cases
The Private LTE’s addressable market will reach $6B USD by 2025 and is expected to grow at a 5-year CAGR of 36%
Key industry applications for CBRS private LTE networks
The CBRS Alliance developed the OnGo™ certification program and established a set of standards for performance and interoperability of CBRS solutions to help drive market adoption.
OnGo provides the robustness of carrier grade connectivity (LTE/5GNR) and the simplicity of self-installed access points.
The low cost of CBRS spectrum creates new opportunities
The low cost of acquiring CBRS spectrum opens new business opportunities which were prohibitively expensive in the past. The chipset and equipment ecosystem will provide the benefits of large scale manufacturing to provide lower cost solutions.
OnGo is cost-competitive with MNO small cells and Wi-Fi. It brings the LTE benefits of security, reliability, and spectral efficiency to neutral host deployments
inCode at the intersection of CBRS and private LTE
inCode Consulting has extensive experience designing spectrum auction strategies, a deep understanding of the benefits and limitations posed by various spectrum bands, and recent project experience designing Private LTE strategies for enterprises. A sample of inCode’s recent experience with a US-based utility customer is illustrated below.
For questions or assistance please e-mail: info@incodeconsulting.com