Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1414667
32 I ICT TODAY CBRS SPECTRUM The CBRS band uses an LTE waveform in a time division multiple access and time division duplexed radio environment, including 150 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band (3550 MHz-3700 MHz) available to both licensed and lightly licensed users. Applications range from industrial internet of things (IIoT) to fixed- wireless access and private LTE networks. Licensing in the CBRS band is neither exclusive nor completely open unlicensed spectrum. Instead, the Federal Communi- cations Commission (FCC) adopted a hybrid approach to the band, marrying elements of licensed and unli- censed use in a novel sharing regime. The hallmark principle of the CBRS band is that usage rights are available on an opportunistic basis; spectrum in the band is generally available for commercial use on a use-it-or-lose-it basis. The FCC has implemented three tiers for spectrum access: Incumbent, Priority Access License (PAL) and General Authorized Access (GAA). Tier 1 includes incum- bent government and satellite users. Tier 2 PALs will have access to 70 MHz of the total 150 MHz available through the FCC auction held in June 2020. The GAA users can access the spectrum on an opportunistic basis and will have access to 80 MHz of spectrum in every market, as well as the 70 MHz of PAL spectrum when it is not being used by PAL licensees. In other words, GAA users get cellular spectrum available free of charge if they can make good use of it. The spectrum is managed and assigned on a dynamic, as-needed basis using a Spectrum Access System (SAS), across these access tiers. The FCC certified CommScope, Federated Wireless, Google, Sony and Amdocs as SAS administrators. More than 200 entities won during the FCC's auction for PALs. Winners included Verizon Wireless (which paid more than $1.8 billion for 557 licenses), DISH Network and cable multiple-system operators (MSOs) like Comcast, Charter and Cox (Table 1). Utility companies and enterprises like John Deere and a real estate company also won spectrum. Beyond the PALs, a variety of companies are expected to use the GAA spectrum. During a Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA)-hosted Connect (X): All access virtual session, John J. Gilbert, chief exec- utive officer of a prominent management company, explained how his company was planning to use CBRS GAA spectrum. Gilbert's company is a family-owned business in New York that owns and operates 15 million square feet (≈1,393,546 m 2 ) of real estate, including 10 million square feet (≈929,031 m 2 ) of office space and 5 million square feet (≈464,515 m 2 ) of residential space. The company has been highly focused on leveraging the relationship between commercial real estate and the Internet since the mid-1990s. At that time, the company deployed optical fiber to the desktop in a vacant building in what Gilbert said "fundamentally shifted its real estate perspective from one of location, location, location to one of location, broadband, location. A great physical location is nothing if you can't access global marketplaces, and CBRS is the wireless equivalent TOP 5 CBRS PAL AUCTION WINNERS Company Number of Licenses Won Net Payment 1. Verizon 557 $1,893,791,991 2. Dish Network 5,492 $912,939,410 3. Charter 210 $464,251,209 4. Comcast 830 $458,725,900 5. Cox Communications 470 $212,805,412 TABLE 1: CBRS PAL Auction Winners. Source: FCC.