The CBRS Alliance will have a bevy of experts on hand when it convenes for a “Catch the OnGo Wave” event Sept. 12 during Mobile World Congress Americas 2018 in Los Angeles, including those from AT&T, Charter Communications and the FCC.
Gordon Mansfield, vice president for converged access and device technology at AT&T, will address the OnGo opportunity for mobile network operators, and Craig Cowden, SVP for wireless technology at Charter, will speak on the CBRS opportunity for cable operators. FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp will provide a view from the FCC about initial commercial deployments.
It will be a timely event, as the FCC’s deadline for commercial deployment proposals is Sept.10. The FCC issued a public notice back in July seeking proposals for commercial deployment by conditionally approved Spectrum Access System (SAS) administrators in the 3.5 GHz band.
Applicants are required to conduct system tests in both a controlled lab environment and a real-world setting and undergo a public testing period and field trials before final certification.
The alliance happens to be holding its first OnGo Interoperability Test Event this week in Louisville, Colorado, hosted by CableLabs. Results of that event are expected to be shared in early September.
RELATED: AT&T eyeing GAA, but not too much until 3.5 GHz CBRS license rules are known
Allocating more midband spectrum has been identified by the industry as a key aspect of 5G and one of the drivers of the FCC’s review of its 3.5 Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) rules. It’s unclear when those rules will go for a final vote, but that hasn’t stopped CBRS stakeholders from forging ahead and getting their SAS houses in order.
Earlier this year, AT&T hosted a policy forum on the topic of the 3.5 GHz band where FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly delivered keynote remarks about the issues facing the 3.5 GHz band. The event also featured the first public demonstration in North America of Ericsson’s 3.5 GHz 5G NR equipment using 100 MHz of spectrum.
Ericsson’s Paul Challoner is going to be on a panel during the CBRS event at MWCA 2018, along with Nokia’s Chris Stark, Joel Lindholm of Ruckus Networks, Mazen Chmaytelli of Qualcomm and Karim El Malki of Athonet.
Chris Daniels of Telrad and Greg Jarmin of Watch Communications will provide the case study for the fixed wireless market, while a separate managed service provider panel will feature Derek Peterson of Boingo, Tormod Larsen of Extenet, Piyush Raj of American Tower and Murat Erkam of Crown Castle. CBRS Alliance President Dave Wright will deliver opening remarks on the state of the market for OnGo, which is the brand name for CBRS gear.
Last year, the CBRS Alliance hosted an event during MWCA in San Francisco that included Charter’s Cowden and Verizon SVP of Wireless Technology Ed Chan.