Rural broadband providers keep pressing for smaller CBRS licensed areas

Several organizations representing the interests of rural telecommunication and electric cooperatives recently met with Federal Communications Commission staff to discuss rules for the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)—namely, that they want the rules to remain much the same as they were crafted in the first place. Representatives of the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association (NTCA), Federated Wireless and Ruckus Networks talked about the importance of making sure the Priority Access Licenses (PALs) are properly sized to spur auction participation by a number of potential licensees, including electric utilities and telecom providers serving rural America.

Notably, NRTC, NRECA and NTCA stated that auctioning PALs by Partial Economic Areas (PEAs), which is what most larger wireless operators are advocating, would foreclose opportunities for rural wireless services. They say PEAs favor larger established operators to the detriment of smaller, rural operators and new entrants.