News
Alliance of six leading tech companies aims to deliver certification programme and field test LTE in CBRS band by year-end.
Nokia, Qualcomm, and Intel are among six big name wireless technology companies that have banded together to develop and market LTE-based services in shared spectrum in the U.S. 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) band.
Other members of the new CBRS Alliance are Alphabet’s Access Technologies, Federated Wireless, and Ruckus Wireless.
The establishment of the alliance follows an earlier move in February, when the six companies committed to broadening the number of LTE-based services available through the CBRS band.
That in turn was in response to the decision by the U.S Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to free up 150 MHz of spectrum in the 3550 MHz to 3700 MHz range for commercial use.
In a statement announcing the collaboration, the members said they believe the CBRS band will become an essential element in meeting growing demand for wireless data services, and noted that several countries around the world are preparing to allocate spectrum in the 3400 MHz to 3600 MHz band for IMT services.
Alliance members say LTE services for the CBRS band, utilising shared spectrum, could improve coverage – both indoors and out – and deliver capacity expansion “at massive scale”.
Neville Meijers, VP of business development at Qualcomm Technologies and chairman of the CBRS Alliance, explained that there is “ever-growing demand for LTE-based solutions in 3.5 GHz bands and expansion of the wireless footprint.”
He added that the alliance “aims to enable the entire industry to address demand by expanding the capacity of new technologies.”
The alliance partners also intend to stimulate the ecosystem for LTE-based CBRS services. For example, the alliance is developing an official certification process to smooth the rollout of CBRS infrastructure. It also plans to begin field tests of LTE-enabled CBRS during the second half of 2016.
Stefan Pongratz, senior director for carrier economics and mobile RAN market research at Dell’Oro Group, noted that new approaches to capacity expansion are necessary, given that operators still allocate the bulk (95%) of RAN capex to improving outdoor coverage, despite the fact that 80% of wireless data is consumed indoors.
