Coalition Proposes Alternate CBRS Auction Plan, Licenses by County and Census Tract

A coalition of 11 carriers and corporations, eight industry associations and the nation’s largest port authority have sent the Federal Communications Commission an auction proposal for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum band that represents a middle ground between rules currently in place and a proposal submitted recently by organizations representing mobile carriers. CBRS auction plans have pitted the mobile carriers, who want larger license areas to support mobile 5G services, against those who want to use the spectrum for fixed wireless broadband and who argue that they can only afford licenses for smaller areas and for shorter time periods. The coalition CBRS auction plan calls for five county-based CBRS priority access licenses (PALs) for every U.S. county and two census tract-based PALs for every census tract. License terms would be seven years and would be renewable based on performance criteria.