CBRS Proponent Studies: Changes to Shared Band Would be Disruptive
Two reports say increased power levels or relocating users would have negative consequences.
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2026 – Two groups supporting the Citizens Broadband Radio Service released reports this week saying major changes to the shared band would be disruptive.
On Thursday, Spectrum for the Future released a report the group commissioned from Valo Analytica that said raising power levels for even a small number of base stations would significantly interfere with current users.
“This study gives a very clear picture of what is actually at stake as a few parties push policymakers for higher power limits,” Dave Wright, Spectrum for the Future’s policy director and a former president of pro-CBRS group OnGo Alliance, said in a statement. “Billions of dollars in investment, critical safety systems, and broadband access for underserved rural communities are all on the line.”
The American-Made 5G Coalition commissioned a separate report from Analysis Mason that found 75 percent of the roughly 1,500 private networks in the U.S. use CBRS spectrum, and that relocating CBRS users would be time-consuming and costly.
CBRS sits at 3.55-3.7 GigaHertz (GHz) and uses a tiered licensing system. Users of the band like wireless ISPs and companies with private networks have worried the Federal Communications Commission might raise power levels in the band or consider auctioning off some of the spectrum as it looks to meet congressional spectrum auction targets.
That’s led to a steady stream of advocacy aimed at convincing the FCC not to go that route. Spectrum for the Future represents the cable industry, WISPs, consumer groups, and others while the American-Made 5G Coalition represents vendors, WISPs, and the 5G-OT Alliance, which includes companies like John Deere and British Petroleum.
The Spectrum for the Future report found that even a small number of the 433,000 CBRS devices turning on higher power – fewer than 2 percent according to the group – would cause “a massive loss of data throughput across the CBRS ecosystem, a permanent data loss that would slow network operation to a crawl.”
The group cited the Miami International Airport and a John Deere manufacturing facility as examples of users that would be degraded.
CBRS users and license holders like WISPs and the cable giants, which use the spectrum for their mobile service in some denser areas, have opposed higher power levels for CBRS, citing interference concerns. Verizon, which spent billions on priority licenses in 2020, has supported higher power, which would make the airwaves more useful for mobile service.
AT&T in 2024 proposed auctioning the band entirely and moving users elsewhere. That’s something Tom Power, former CTIA general counsel and former FCC and National Telecommunications and Information Administration official, recently said “has not got a lot of momentum behind it.”
“It is unclear what devices could replace CBRS equipment if the CBRS band was moved,” the American-Made 5G report said. “Moreover, any such replacement – even if feasible – would take several years.”
Arpan Sura, senior counsel to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on wireless issues, said last month he wanted more study into CBRS use. The agency has an open rulemaking from 2024 in which it asked about the effects of raising power limits in the band.
“I think it’s healthy going forward that there be a more productive conversation about: What does success look like in this band? And how do we gauge success in a way that’s quantitative, in a way that isn’t just pointing to our favorite examples but actually gets to the heart of the matter?” Sura said at a Technology Policy Institute webinar.
Sura said the agency was more focused on other spectrum issues at the moment, with Congressional mandates to auction upper C-band spectrum by July 2027 and the AWS-3 auction set for this year.
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