WISPs Continue Push for FCC to Preserve CBRS

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2025 – Wireless ISPs are continuing a push to discourage the Federal Communications Commission from altering a shared spectrum band they rely on.

More than 30 WISPs have submitted letters to the agency this month asking it not to sell off part of the 3.55-3.7 GigaHertz (GHz) Citizens Broadband Radio Service band, or raise power levels.

There has been consistent advocacy on the issue since Congress passed budget legislation in July that directed the agency to sell 300 megahertz of likely non-federal spectrum, while at the same time killing a carve-out that would have blocked a sale of CBRS airwaves. That led some to fear the FCC might consider auctioning some CBRS airwaves.

“Our network is purpose-built around the propagation characteristics, equipment ecosystem, and investment structure associated with the existing CBRS band,” Nathan Stooke, CEO of Illinois-based Wisper Internet, wrote in a letter posted Dec. 8. “Forcing a migration would require us to retire or retrofit large amounts of equipment, disrupt service for customers, and delay expansion projects.”

Stooke is on the board of WISPA, which represents small and wireless ISPs and has also been vocal on the issue.

Cambium, an equipment manufacturer that makes CBRS gear, argued the replacements that would be required could disrupt the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, as some grant winners applied to build projects using CBRS spectrum or relying on existing infrastructure that does.

“Casting uncertainty and doubt into the marketplace at this critical juncture undermines customer confidence and threatens taxpayer investment in broadband deployment,” the company wrote. “It is inconsistent for the federal government to make billions of dollars available for broadband deployment and expect recipients to invest their own capital, at the same time that it calls into question the usefulness of the most relied-upon spectrum for broadband deployment.”

Three-tiered licensing system

CBRS uses a tiered licensing system, with coastal Navy radars getting protection from interference by priority license holders, and those license holders being protected from those using the spectrum on a free general access basis. 

It has roughly 420,000 radios and routers deployed, which users tout as evidence the band is an effective use of airwaves. It’s largely used by companies for private networks and by ISPs for rural broadband.

The FCC hasn’t indicated it would be interested in relocating the band’s users, which would be a time-consuming and expensive task, but the uncertainty has led to lots of advocacy from CBRS proponents and users. They’ve marshaled support from GOP lawmakers in both chambers of Congress and regularly make their case to the FCC.

AT&T had proposed relocating the band’s users and auctioning the spectrum last year. The carriers are opposed to lower power sharing models like CBRS generally, preferring the high-power, exclusive licenses their networks use.

A group of private network users, wireless ISPs, and CBRS equipment vendors spun up a new group to lobby on the issue last month.

Asked about CBRS at the FCC’s November meeting, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the upcoming upper C-band auction was taking up much of the agency’s attention on spectrum at this point and didn’t comment directly.

FCC Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty have defended the band. Gomez called it a success story and important source of competition in the wireless industry at the November meeting, and Trusty spoke positively of the band at a conference last month. 

Power levels 

CBRS users also don’t want the FCC to raise power levels in the band. The agency sought input on the issue as part of a broader inquiry last year.

Verizon, which spent $1.9 billion on CBRS licenses in the FCC’s 2020 auction, has pushed for increasing those power levels. The company said that with higher power devices “mobile operators will be able to further increase coverage and use spectrum more efficiently and fixed wireless access operators will be able to serve more remote customers with better throughputs and higher reliability.”

The recent WISP letters argued higher power would increase the protection areas around Naval radars, where commercial users can be kicked offline at a moment's notice, and increase interference among those commercial operators. 

The FCC reduced the size of the protection areas last year after finding the chance of interference was low, effectively widening the areas where CBRS could provide uninterrupted service.

“A shift to higher power levels by even a subset of operators would degrade service quality for thousands of our rural customers and render many of our existing sites unusable,” Pennsylvania-based Crowsnest Broadband wrote.