The following content is sponsored by Spectrum for the Future.
America’s biggest cellular carriers are trying to dismantle a Trump-era success story that is delivering American jobs from the farm to the factory floor. Their lobbyists are pressing regulators to dramatically raise power limits in the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band, a spectrum-sharing framework successfully launched during President Trump’s first term, that lets thousands of American businesses build their own 5G wireless networks. A new technical analysis from Valo Analytica reveals what’s really at stake if the three Big Cellular companies are given the opportunity to drown out thousands who have invested billions building this ecosystem: higher power puts all of it at risk.
Launched in 2020, CBRS is a significant Trump-era success story that has spurred billions in private investment and enabled over 1,000 different operators to use the same spectrum without interference. Rural broadband providers supporting thousands of American jobs, U.S. manufacturers like John Deere, hospitals running connected medical devices, utilities managing smart grid operations, agricultural cooperatives deploying precision farming technology, and critical infrastructure like the Miami International Airport all depend on CBRS continuing to operate as designed.
The current rules make it possible for American businesses to build their own competitive networks without being handcuffed to the big three cellular carriers – no gatekeepers, no red tape. But if Big Cellular gets its way, this freedom – and the competition and innovation it empowers – will be crushed by the government picking winners and losers.
At Risk: John Deere’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Facility
The Valo Analytica study details what the higher power levels favored by the big cellular companies mean in practice. At John Deere’s manufacturing facilities in Illinois, external interference from a single nearby high-power tower would render substantial portions of their manufacturing network unusable. Allowing high power levels would force companies to abandon billions in private network investments and risk the American jobs those networks support.
At Risk: Miami International Airport’s Critical Infrastructure Systems
Miami International Airport faces equally serious consequences. A single high-power deployment anywhere in Miami would instantly cut one-third of the airport’s CBRS network capacity. Miami uses this network for security systems, runway monitoring, Customs operations, and baggage handling. Airport officials have warned that the potential loss in capacity posed by higher power would be catastrophic to public safety operations.
At Risk: Rural Internet Service Across the U.S.
Amplex Internet, a rural broadband provider in Ohio, provides a glimpse into what would happen nationwide if higher-powered devices were allowed in CBRS. The provider currently experiences disruption from Canadian high-power 3.5 GHz operations across the border, which causes outages and customer disruptions across Amplex’s network. Allowing higher power CBRS operations in the U.S. would force similar disruptions and headaches on rural providers all across the country. Wireless Internet Service Providers like Amplex account for roughly 85 percent of all CBRS deployments nationwide. Major changes to CBRS rules would undermine their ability to provide rural broadband service in communities the three Big Cellular companies have largely overlooked – threatening a loss of connectivity, economic opportunity, and thousands of jobs.
The Bottom Line
CBRS works because low power levels and smaller licenses allow access to multiple network operators to provide service without interference to other users, getting the most out of a scarce national resource. If Big Cellular is allowed to rewrite the rules and crank up the power, current users’ access would be destroyed across a wide geography and array of American industry.
The question is straightforward. Does the FCC want to preserve a spectrum band supporting competition, innovation, American jobs, and private investment – or does it want to tip the scales to concentrate even more power for Big Cellular?
For a detailed technical analysis, the full Valo Analytica study is available here. Comments on the FCC proceeding can be filed through the FCC’s electronic comment system under GN Docket No. 17-258.
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