Arris IDs CBRS as an Opportunity Right Now

ATLANTA — With the Federal Communications Commission voting Tuesday to enable sale of county-sized slices of the 150-MHz slice of high-bandwidth spectrum known as the Citizens Broadband Radio Service band (CBRS), Arris chief technology officer of customer premises equipment Charles Cheevers made a pitch to Cable-Tec Expo attendees during his afternoon session.

(From l.): Duncan Potter of Arris, Mehmet Yavuz of Ruckus Networks and Charles Cheevers of Arris talk CBRS on a Cable-Tec Expo panel.

(From l.): Duncan Potter of Arris, Mehmet Yavuz of Ruckus Networks and Charles Cheevers of Arris talk CBRS on a Cable-Tec Expo panel.

Operators serving enterprise customers such as shipyards, airports and sports venues can offer their low-cost, private LTE networks that are more reliable than WiFi. “We and other companies can deliver that to you today,” Cheevers said.

Speaking alongside Cheevers at the Arris-sponsored event was his counterpart at sibling wireless division Ruckus Networks, chief technology officer Mehmet Yavuz. Playing the part of moderator was Duncan Potter, senior VP of marketing for Arris.

As Cheevers noted, CBRS is a piece of underused spectrum, existing between 3.5 GHz and 3.7 GHz, that was only being exploited by a handful of aircraft carriers and U.S. naval stations.

Cheevers said the FCC made a “common sense” decision when it decided to allocate the spectrum to telecom companies, who can purchase local PAL licenses.

Arris also pitched uses such as neutral host applications (MDUs); MSO applications (wireless MVNO offload and smart homes); and MNO apps (network densification and capacity expansion).

Notably, Sioux Falls, S.D. operator Midco is currently testing CBRS for reaching rural broadband customers.

“Globally, everyone is looking at the FCC and how this market works out,” Yavuz added.

Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!