A Google-led plan to overhaul how valuable airwaves are used for calls and texts is gaining momentum across the wireless industry, giving the company the chance to play a central role in networks of the future.
Citizens Broadband Radio Service, or CBRS, is a fat slice of the U.S. airwaves being freed this year from the military’s exclusive control. Instead of just zipping messages between aircraft carriers and fighter jets, the spectrum will be shared by the Navy, wireless carriers like Verizon, cable companies including Comcast, and even hospitals, refineries and sports stadiums.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google, with help from some smaller tech companies, is leading the charge on ways to make the new service work seamlessly. They've built databases and sensor systems that switch users to different CBRS channels to avoid interference, especially when the Navy sails into town.
This could upend the wireless business. Carriers spent more than $50 billion in recent years buying exclusive spectrum rights then charging users for cell service. What if, instead of buying and hoarding, spectrum is shared in new ways? It could become an abundant resource, making mobile internet connectivity more available and potentially cheaper.
“This will be a huge psychological hurdle for U.S. wireless companies to overcome,” said industry consultant Chetan Sharma. “These operators want to own the spectrum clean and not worry about interference.”
What’s changed is that the U.S. wireless industry is so desperate for new spectrum it’s willing to try the idea — and even work with Google, which has been viewed skeptically by the industry. Unlimited wireless plans have caused data usage to soar. Throw in pressure to build new 5G networks and companies like Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. can’t afford to ignore CBRS, even if it disrupts decades of spectrum orthodoxy.
CBRS has three tiers. At the top is the military, which has gets spectrum whenever it needs it. The second is a priority level that will be sold to the highest bidders in hundreds or thousands of mini auctions covering different parts of the country. At the bottom is a free tier that any company can use. That final tier won’t get protection from interference.
Imagine you’re on a call with your smartphone in Los Angeles and it’s using CBRS to connect you. An aircraft carrier churns past. Systems run by Google, startup Federated Wireless or a few other companies, will spot that, give the Navy a prime bit of the spectrum to use, then move you onto a slightly different channel without dropping the call. When the ship leaves the area, the Navy’s spectrum is sent back into the mix. There's enough spectrum to go round — 150 MHz is the largest chunk of contiguous airwaves to be released in years. And the Navy is unlikely to sail past Denver, Kansas City or most other U.S. locations.
The key is that if a company buys a priority slice and doesn’t put it to work, the spectrum is free for others to use. This prevents hoarding and changes the supply and demand equation, making spectrum more plentiful.
“Spectrum is like drinking water. There’s only so much of it and you better use it efficiently,” said Joel Lindholm, an executive at Ruckus Wireless, a unit of Arris International Plc that’s building CBRS gear.
For Google, the project is the most successful in a long series of efforts to increase internet availability — the digital oxygen that sustains its search engine, YouTube video service and the ads that generate almost 90 percent of the company’s revenue. When CBRS goes live, the company will be in a powerful and somewhat familiar position. As a Spectrum Access System provider, it will be paid to sit in the middle of information flows about valuable spectrum and decide what happens to the airwaves in real time. To avoid interference, Google has even installed special sensors along U.S. coastlines to spot when Navy ships are near (although the exact locations are digitally scrubbed).
That power doesn’t sit well with the wireless industry...
by Alistair Barr, Mark Bergen, and Scott Moritz, Bloomberg | Read more:
Image: Susana Gonzalez
Citizens Broadband Radio Service, or CBRS, is a fat slice of the U.S. airwaves being freed this year from the military’s exclusive control. Instead of just zipping messages between aircraft carriers and fighter jets, the spectrum will be shared by the Navy, wireless carriers like Verizon, cable companies including Comcast, and even hospitals, refineries and sports stadiums.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google, with help from some smaller tech companies, is leading the charge on ways to make the new service work seamlessly. They've built databases and sensor systems that switch users to different CBRS channels to avoid interference, especially when the Navy sails into town.
This could upend the wireless business. Carriers spent more than $50 billion in recent years buying exclusive spectrum rights then charging users for cell service. What if, instead of buying and hoarding, spectrum is shared in new ways? It could become an abundant resource, making mobile internet connectivity more available and potentially cheaper.“This will be a huge psychological hurdle for U.S. wireless companies to overcome,” said industry consultant Chetan Sharma. “These operators want to own the spectrum clean and not worry about interference.”
What’s changed is that the U.S. wireless industry is so desperate for new spectrum it’s willing to try the idea — and even work with Google, which has been viewed skeptically by the industry. Unlimited wireless plans have caused data usage to soar. Throw in pressure to build new 5G networks and companies like Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. can’t afford to ignore CBRS, even if it disrupts decades of spectrum orthodoxy.
CBRS has three tiers. At the top is the military, which has gets spectrum whenever it needs it. The second is a priority level that will be sold to the highest bidders in hundreds or thousands of mini auctions covering different parts of the country. At the bottom is a free tier that any company can use. That final tier won’t get protection from interference.
Imagine you’re on a call with your smartphone in Los Angeles and it’s using CBRS to connect you. An aircraft carrier churns past. Systems run by Google, startup Federated Wireless or a few other companies, will spot that, give the Navy a prime bit of the spectrum to use, then move you onto a slightly different channel without dropping the call. When the ship leaves the area, the Navy’s spectrum is sent back into the mix. There's enough spectrum to go round — 150 MHz is the largest chunk of contiguous airwaves to be released in years. And the Navy is unlikely to sail past Denver, Kansas City or most other U.S. locations.
The key is that if a company buys a priority slice and doesn’t put it to work, the spectrum is free for others to use. This prevents hoarding and changes the supply and demand equation, making spectrum more plentiful.
“Spectrum is like drinking water. There’s only so much of it and you better use it efficiently,” said Joel Lindholm, an executive at Ruckus Wireless, a unit of Arris International Plc that’s building CBRS gear.
For Google, the project is the most successful in a long series of efforts to increase internet availability — the digital oxygen that sustains its search engine, YouTube video service and the ads that generate almost 90 percent of the company’s revenue. When CBRS goes live, the company will be in a powerful and somewhat familiar position. As a Spectrum Access System provider, it will be paid to sit in the middle of information flows about valuable spectrum and decide what happens to the airwaves in real time. To avoid interference, Google has even installed special sensors along U.S. coastlines to spot when Navy ships are near (although the exact locations are digitally scrubbed).
That power doesn’t sit well with the wireless industry...
by Alistair Barr, Mark Bergen, and Scott Moritz, Bloomberg | Read more:
Image: Susana Gonzalez
