NRECA, as part of the "CBRS Coalition," proposed a compromise framework to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the licensing of Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in the FCC's pending proceeding on the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band. The CBRS Coalition proposes a geographic-area licensing approach for PALs that will enable a wide array of parties with a multitude of planned use cases to gain access to CBRS protected spectrum and take part in the emerging 3.5 GHz marketplace. The Coalition has brought together a wide-ranging group of stakeholders with different spectrum use cases in support of a straightforward, balanced compromise framework that allows all parties a meaningful opportunity to obtain access to resources within the band.
The CBRS Coalition urges the FCC to adopt a CBRS licensing framework that includes the following elements:
- In every U.S. county, there will be five county-based CBRS PALs available at auction.
- In every census tract in every U.S. county, there will be two census-tract-based CBRS PALs available at auction.
- The license term for all PALs will be seven years.
- PALs will be renewable based on performance criteria.
FULL LETTER
