A report was released by Roger Entner of Recon Analytics on November 14, titled "CBRS: An Unproven Spectrum Sharing Framework." There is a decade-long technical debate about whether spectrum bands ideally suited for commercial wireless services can or ought to be designated for use on an exclusive licensed basis or instead be shared by federal agency users with licensed commercial users and unlicensed users. For the 3.45-3.55 GHz band spectrum license auction, which was conducted by the FCC earlier this year, 100 MHz of spectrum was cleared for exclusive commercial use by licensees. By contrast, Citizen's Band Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum in the 3.55-3.7 GHz range is shared by government incumbents, priority access licensees (PALs), and General Authorized Access (GAAs) users.
Entner's report generally favors the exclusive licensed use approach to spectrum and criticizes the spectrum sharing approach undertaken for the CBRS band. The report, along with reactions to the report, is worth considering as the discussion continues regarding the proper allocation of the lower 3 GHz spectrum band and others for repurposing to commercial wireless services.
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