The FCC has given permission to five so-called “Spectrum Access Systems” (SAS) providers to begin initial commercial deployment of CBRS services.

With the expected green-light, Amdocs, CommScope, Federated Wireless, Google and Sony can now start offering services built around the Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) band, a 150 MHz swath of spectrum, ranging from 3550 - 3700 MHz, lofted in the 3.5 GHz band.

Previously, the U.S. government had used CBRS for a small set of applications, including Navy aircraft carrier communications. Cable operators including Charter Communications have been developing technologies recently to use CBRS as a means of building their own cellular footprint, and there are myriad industrial use cases.

Related: CBRS Specialist Federated Wireless Secures Another $51M in Funding

“We can now expand our nation’s broadband capabilities and deliver on the promise of affordable spectrum needed for 4G and 5G to enable the Internet of Things, develop private LTE networks, and bring much-needed spectrum to rural areas, among other uses,” said Iyad Tarazi, CEO of Federated Wireless, in a statement. "This is a big win for service providers, enterprises and consumers and sets the stage for true innovation in wireless communications.”

For its part, Federated Wireless will immediately initiate CBRS services for more than 20 customers in both urban and rural markets across 36 states.

Federated Wireless’ customers include Verizon, Charter, American Tower, Boingo, Ericsson, JMA Wireless, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Wave Wireless.

According to industry consortium the CBRS Alliance, the CBRS band is worth $15.6 billion.

“There’s been an unprecedented amount of coordination and joint development to implement the FCC’s framework, prepare the industry for imminent deployments and certify components and devices,” said Dave Wright, president of the CBRS Alliance.

“We can’t create new spectrum, but we can invent new ways to use it more efficiently," added Claude Aiken, president of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA). "Of course, that reflects the history of the wireless industry of continually innovating to get more out of finite radio spectrum so more can use it. Today, after years of hard work and development, initial commercial deployment (ICD) of CBRS shared spectrum is a reality. We want to thank all those individuals for their magnificent efforts to make that happen. And the FCC, too, for seeing the promise within this underutilized CBRS band, and then nurturing the process to completion."

The CBRS Alliance and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) have announced a partnership to address technical issues related to the commercial launch of services built around the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS).

The orgs said their collaboration will focus on the technical interworking between the CBRS Alliance and ATIS solutions, including the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), Home Network Identity (HNI), Priority Services, and Radio Access Networks. The work will also address legal and regulatory compliance topics.

The two orgs have actually been collaborating for some time. In early November, for example, they jointly hosted a webinar focused on Home Network Identity. 

As part of the liaison agreement, the organizations will partner on HNI initiatives within the 3.5 GHz CBRS band. Traditionally, an HNI identifies a mobile subscriber’s home network and is assignable to mobile network operators with international roaming capabilities. Since the 3550-3700 MHz spectrum is not solely for exclusive use, some users will not directly attain FCC spectrum licenses.

Instead, users acquire base stations certified by the FCC as being compliant with the FCC rules. With such broad and low-cost access to the shared licensed spectrum, ATIS’ IMSI Oversight Council (IOC) derived a strategy for allocating blocks of IMSIs for users within the 3.5 GHz CBRS band. Within the 3.5 GHz band, a shared HNI is used to identify CBRS operations, thus conserving HNI resources, the orgs explained in their announcement.

“The CBRS Alliance values working with ATIS as one of the most respected industry associations in the telecommunications sector,” said Alan Ewing, executive director of the CBRS Alliance, in a statement. “We’re looking forward to tackling technical challenges that may be associated with delivering commercial service in the 3.5 GHz band and to maximizing cooperation between our organizations.”

In 2018, a number of large telecom companies, including Comcast, Charter and Altice, USA, openly discussed plans to build enterprise businesses based on CBRS, a narrow slice of high-band spectrum previously consigned to a few military applications.

The FCC in October finalized rules for Priority Access Licenses to the CBRS band. The FCC’s revised rules mainly covers the licensed portion of the spectrum, delineating county-sized areas and renewable 10-year terms.

Among operators and vendors, however, more interest has been shown toward the unlicensed portion of CBRS.

Over the fall, a number of vendors acquired FCC certification for CBRS products, including Arris, Ericsson, Nokia and Sercomm. 

Federated Wireless has asked the FCC for permission to move forward with commercial CBRS deployments as soon as October, the company announced.

In its proposal for Initial Commercial Deployment, the Arlington, Va.-based company said it has 14 initial customers—wireless operators, cable companies, tower hoisters, managed service providers (MSPs) and CBRS devices vendors, including American Tower, Arris, Charter Communications and ExteNet Systems.

Other launch stats include the inclusion of 15 OEM partners, as well as 15,753 site locations across 47 states and Washington, D.C.

Notably, the plans for commercialization outlined in the Federated proposal suggest not waiting for the debate around Priority Access Licenses (PALs) to be finalized.

Separately, Federated Wireless announced a new CPI training program.

The CPI Training Program addresses the FCC’s initial commercial deployment rules, which mandate that all outdoor CBRS devices be installed by a certified professional installer to ensure that accurate location and serial number information is logged and reported to the SAS for proper operation.

Related: CBRS Alliance Declares Interop a Success, Says Commercial Deployments are ‘Imminent’

“Shared spectrum commercialization has begun, and at a far greater scale and scope than we all anticipated at this stage,” declared Iyad Tarazi, president and CEO of Federated Wireless, in a statement. “Businesses can now access shared spectrum to not only introduce new services and create new businesses models, but solve decades old challenges, such as improving wireless connectivity indoors and outdoors, and closing the digital divide.”

Cable and wireless operators are exploring opportunities for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device band, a 150 MHz-wide portion of largely underused spectrum existing between 3.55 GHz and 3.7 GHz. CBRS will ultimately be used for private LTE networks such as airports and industrial campuses.

Federated Wireless has suggested use cases spanning energy, entertainment, hotels, shopping malls, sports venues, offices, restaurants, seaports, smart cities and rural areas with more than 80 WISPs.

> Comcast, Charter Communications and Altice USA are each currently testing various CBRS applications.

By the end of the year, the CBRS Alliance said it expects to have nearly a dozen labs set up around the world to conduct testing for its OnGo certification of the technology.

The FCC, meanwhile, is still reviewing the rules for CBRS deployment, but the CBRS Alliance expects that the General Authorized Access portion of the band will begin being used for commercial applications by the end of 2018.

The CBRS Alliance declared its first interoperability test a success and that its branded, LTE-based technology OnGo has “imminent” opportunities for commercial applications.

“While there have been a number of recent accomplishments toward commercial deployment, the technical achievements showcased by our members at last week’s interoperability test event was by far one of the most significant milestones to date,” said Dave Wright, president of the CBRS Alliance, in a statement. “After a successful round of interoperability tests and with initial commercial deployment  on the horizon, we are confident that OnGo-enabled business opportunities are imminent.”

The interop took place last week at CableLabs’ headquarters in Louisville, Colorado and drew more than 20 Alliance member companies, including five of the nation’s Spectrum Access System (SAS) administrators: Amdocs, CommScope, Federated Wireless, Google, and Sony. The event also featured a number of telecom industry vendors, including Arris’ Ruckus Networks division, Ericsson and Airspan.

According to the CBRS Alliance, SAS Administrators fostered more than 50 successful interactions, executing a 98% test completion rate with no recorded failures. The interactions tested the critical functions required for support of all the use cases the CBRS Alliances as identified as most relevant for spectrum sharing in the 3.4 GHz band, including mobile network densification, fixed wireless, neutral host and private LTE for both enterprise and industrial IoT use.

Cable and wireless operators are exploring opportunities for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device band, a 150 MHz-wide portion of largely underused spectrum existing between 3.55 GHz and 3.7 GHz. CBRS will ultimately be used for private LTE networks such as airports and industrial campuses.

Comcast, Charter Communications and Altice USA are each currently testing various CBRS applications.

By the end of the year, the CBRS Alliance said it expects to have nearly a dozen labs set up around the world to conduct testing for its OnGo certification of the technology.

The FCC, meanwhile, is still reviewing the rules for CBRS deployment, but the CBRS Alliance expects that the General Authorized Access portion of the band will begin being used for commercial applications by the end of 2018.

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Reflecting the mobile aspects of the emerging shared Citizens Band Radio Service (CBRS) band, the CBRS Alliance has introduced “OnGo” as the brand for the LTE-based swath of spectrum as well as the product ecosystem’s certification program.

The CBRS Alliance introduced OnGo in concert with the group’s annual member’s meeting in Washington, D.C.

The OnGo brand and cert program will center on a 150 MHz-wide batch of spectrum in the range of 3.55 GHz to 3.7 GHz that has been underutilized. Its use has been limited to the U.S. Navy for flight operations for aircraft carriers along with some satellite uplinks, but a portion of it will also be allocated for licensed (Priority Access Licenses) and unlicensed use (general authorized access). A new class of spectrum allocation servers will ensure that new users in the band don’t interfere with incumbent users.

RELATED: Federated Wireless Targets ‘Third Model’ for Mobile (subscription required)

Cable operators such as Comcast and Charter Communications eyeing the CBRS/OnGo band for wireless and mobile services as a way to offset some of the costs they incur from MVNO agreements that partly are underpinning their new mobile services.

RELATED: Comcast Wants to Test CBRS in Philly

Chris Stark, a board member of the CBRS Alliance and exec with Nokia, said the OnGo brand is being launched as the Alliance looks to diversify its membership and reach out to adjacent industries.

Part of the aim, he said, is to use a brand tied to the CBRS opportunity to new verticals in a way that’s a bit less techy while also spelling out other benefits of the emerging spectrum band.

The CBRS Alliance released two specs aimed at product interoperability last month.

The certification program for CBRS-facing products will also use the OnGo brand to identify equipment that passes the test. In addition to interoperability, the specs also align with WInnForum standards and are designed to ensure all products that earn OnGo Certification also receive simultaneous FCC Certification, the group said.

Certification will take place at more than ten authorized test labs around the world in the early going. The CBRS Alliance has not announced certification test pricing or listed out locations of those authorized lab sites.

The CBRS Alliance counts members such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Arris/Ruckus Networks, Google, CableLabs, and Charter Communications.

RELATED: Ruckus Gears Up for CBRS Band