Last month, CommScope announced that it has received official notification from the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) that its spectrum access system (SAS) to support the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) is now certified for initial commercial deployment.
With the notification earlier this year from the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences that its Environmental Sensing Capability (ESC) sensor passed testing, and the addition of Ruckus Networks’ Band 48 CBRS devices (or access points) and cloud services, CommScope is poised to deliver on the promise of wireless coverage and capacity for in-building, public spaces and IoT.
With the FCC public notification DA-19-915, organizations across a wide variety of verticals will be able to put 150 MHz of spectrum to use for a host of applications, including fixed wireless access, small cell deployments and in-building and private LTE networks. Private LTE networks will enable organizations to address challenging, critical use cases that only a dedicated, secure, ultra-high-quality network can reliably support. CommScope initial commercial deployments will demonstrate fixed wireless access, private LTE and IoT use cases in multiple markets.
“With the public notice from the FCC, companies can finally enter initial commercial deployment and begin to realize the value that private LTE can bring to their buildings, campuses, employees, customers and business,” said Iain Gillott, president and founder of iGR. “CommScope is demonstrating its commitment to bringing CBRS to life with a full solution consisting of CBRS access points, SAS and ESC. The industry needs an end-to-end solution to give organizations the ability to quickly, and confidently, deploy LTE-based wireless solutions.”
After reviewing close to 1,000 SAS test results and collaborating with the Department of Defense, the FCC approved SAS administrators to go into initial commercial deployment, the final phase before full FCC certification. This enables organizations to capitalize on the promise of CBRS by implementing LTE networks to support business applications.
In 2018, AT&T announced CommScope was selected as the SAS provider for its first 5G-ready CBRS network solution. In addition, CommScope’s SAS is in trials with other major carriers for customers in a variety of industries.
“This is an exciting time for CBRS,” said Ben Cardwell, senior vice president of Mobility Solutions, CommScope. “After years of collaboration with industry and government on CBRS, CommScope is pleased to enter the last phase of SAS certification and is prepared to move to full commercial service offering a complete portfolio of CBRS solutions for use cases and business opportunities.”
CommScope sees the value of CBRS in many business verticals, including manufacturing. These benefits are already recognized in CommScope’s manufacturing facility in Euless, Texas using CBRS devices managed by the CommScope SAS to provide high-bandwidth, low latency connections to remote video equipment monitoring the facility. Select IoT devices are also connected to the CommScope private LTE CBRS network.
CommScope’s SAS system and ESC network, designed and built on decades of spectrum management expertise, enable wireless networks to tap into valuable new capacity of 3.5 GHz band. With the addition of Ruckus Networks’ CBRS-band LTE access points and cloud services into CommScope’s portfolio, enterprises now have access to secure, cost-effective LTE coverage as well as support for Industrial IoT connectivity.
Earlier this year, CommScope was approved by WInnForum as a Certified Professional Installer (CPI) Training Program Administrator for CBRS. The accreditation allows CommScope to offer training to installation professionals who want to attain CBRS CPI certification.
