Luján, Fischer Urge FCC to Preserve Critical Broadband Service That Boosts Rural and Tribal Broadband, Promotes Military Readiness, and Supports American Manufacturing

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chair of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr, Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, and Commissioner Olivia Trusty urging the FCC to preserve the current rules, power levels, and frameworks governing the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). In the U.S., there are over 422,000 active CBRS radio devices that are critical to helping deliver cost-effective connectivity in unserved and underserved communities, including Tribal and rural communities.

The Senators wrote, "CBRS's low-power, shared-spectrum model has become vital infrastructure nationwide, with network hardware produced from American design, construction, and investment."

"Especially in rural areas, CBRS spectrum is critical for wireless internet service providers to serve customers over great distances. It also enables Tribes to deliver essential services-such as telehealth, distance learning, and other Tribal services-more economically and reliably," continued the Senators.

"CBRS works because its rules are stable, predictable, and engineered for coexistence. We respectfully request the FCC preserve the existing CBRS framework and technical protections to ensure continued success," the Senators concluded.

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Chairman Carr and Commissioners Gomez and Trusty:

We write to request that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) preserve the current rules, power levels, and frameworks governing the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band (3.55-3.70 GHz) to protect rural and Tribal broadband, promote military readiness, and support American manufacturing.

CBRS's low-power, shared-spectrum model has become vital infrastructure nationwide, with network hardware produced from American design, construction, and investment. Today, there are over 422,000 active CBRS radio devices deployed across the country. To put that in perspective, the entire U.S. wireless industry combined cumulatively operates nearly 250,000 macro cellular sites. This growth is not theoretical-CBRS is already deployed in more than 82 percent of U.S. counties that are predominantly rural, helping deliver cost-effective connectivity and closing gaps in unserved and underserved communities, including on Tribal lands.

Especially in rural areas, CBRS spectrum is critical for wireless internet service providers to serve customers over great distances. It also enables Tribes to deliver essential services-such as telehealth, distance learning, and other Tribal services-more economically and reliably. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's BEAD program is another key example of this tangible growth. Recently approved BEAD subgrantees committed to serve thousands of locations across rural Nebraska and New Mexico with broadband networks that depend on CBRS to meet statutory speed and latency requirements. Consequently, the overall success of the BEAD program now leans heavily on the continued dependability of the CBRS band as it exists today.

The U.S. military is a participant in the CBRS marketplace, as well, with installations around the country deploying their own private CBRS 5G networks-delivering a dependable connection that is improving logistics and inventory movement, while utilizing taxpayer resources efficiently.

Additionally, due to its reliability, scalability, and configurability, CBRS has been the central driver for private 5G networking. Its unique architecture has motivated non-traditional participants, such as next-gen manufacturers, utilities, airports, sports venues, tribes, and others to build their own private 5G networks. This competition ultimately leads to more options for consumers.

Given the critical nature of this band, we urge the FCC to reject changes that would upend CBRS's carefully calibrated mid-power operating model-including proposals to increase power levels or otherwise modify the technical rules in ways that raise interference risk, degrade service, "squeeze out" users, or move users to a different band. Such changes would reduce spectrum efficiency and undermine the very facilities and community networks that rely on CBRS today.

CBRS works because its rules are stable, predictable, and engineered for coexistence. We respectfully request the FCC preserve the existing CBRS framework and technical protections to ensure continued success.

Sincerely,

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