Dish sets sights on high power Citizens Broadband Radio Service tests

Dish Wireless is asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to conduct field experiments to evaluate high power Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) operations and its impact on current operations in the band. The application is notable given that Dish was the second largest bidder in the CBRS auction in 2020 and has been lobbying for a higher power level for the band. T-Mobile, Charter Communications and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) oppose increasing power levels. Dish’s application for special temporary authority (STA) says the 3.5 GHz tests would be conducted in the Boulder (Colorado) area, to evaluate coverage, throughput and spectral efficiency. If approved, the tests would evaluate the impact to current General Authorized Access (GAA) and Priority Access License (PAL) operations if the in-band emission requirement of -25 dBm/MHz is waived to align with the adjacent C-band, or 3.7 GHz, according to the application. Dish and T-Mobile dispute the timing of the shutdown of Sprint’s CDMA network. Also, they disagree over power levels in the CBRS band. In a filing with the FCC last month, Dish reiterated the benefits of raising the maximum authorized power levels in the CBRS band, saying it would provide carriers and consumers “enormous benefit” by enabling more efficient use of the spectrum, lowering the costs of deployment and ensuring that the U.S. has mid-band spectrum allocations that are comparable to the large 5G frequency bands available in most of Europe and the rest of the world, where 3.5 GHz is widely deployed for 5G.