Deep within the hum of automated assembly lines and across the vast expanse of rural America, a revolutionary wireless technology is quietly fueling the next wave of innovation, yet its very future hangs in a delicate balance contested by telecom titans and Washington policymakers. The Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), a uniquely American experiment in sharing the airwaves, has proven its worth by enabling thousands of private networks for everything from smart agriculture to connected airports. Now, as this thriving ecosystem confronts an insatiable demand for data driven by artificial intelligence, it finds itself in a high-stakes battle to not only protect its existing territory but to secure more spectrum for the data tsunami yet to come. This conflict is more than a technical dispute over frequencies; it represents a fundamental clash of visions for the future of wireless connectivity in the United States.
A Year of Weathering Existential Threats
The CBRS community recently navigated what many insiders described as a year of unprecedented adversity, facing a series of significant external pressures that threatened the very foundation of the service. A primary challenge emerged from a proposal by telecommunications giant AT&T, which sought to relocate the entire CBRS framework from its established home in the 3.5 GHz band down to the lower 3 GHz band. Such a move would have triggered a massive and costly disruption for the hundreds of thousands of existing users who have invested heavily in equipment and infrastructure tailored to the current band. This pressure was compounded by ambiguous signals from the Department of Defense, an important incumbent user of the spectrum, and a conspicuous lack of explicit protections for CBRS in major legislative efforts.
However, despite this tumultuous period, a sense of stability has begun to emerge from the uncertainty. A crucial development has been the redirection of conversations around future full-power, exclusively licensed spectrum toward other bands, notably the 4 GHz band. This shift is significant because it potentially diverts the intense spectrum appetite of major mobile carriers away from the CBRS band, allowing it to maintain its unique shared-use character. Moreover, the broader industry pressure on CBRS is being alleviated as the overall spectrum pipeline is fed by other sources, including secondary market transactions and the Federal Communications Commission preparing to auction additional mid-band spectrum.
The Battle for the Band A Wireless Carrier Versus Everyone Else Fight
A critical battle for the soul of CBRS is currently being waged within the context of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) initiated by the FCC. This formal review of the CBRS framework, originally established as a pioneering three-tiered sharing model, is examining several proposals, but none is more contentious than a potential increase in the band’s power levels. This single issue has drawn a sharp dividing line through the telecommunications industry, pitting a few powerful incumbents against a broad and diverse coalition of innovators.
On one side are the major mobile wireless carriers, who advocate for higher power levels to more seamlessly integrate CBRS into their high-power macro-cellular networks. On the other side stands what Dave Wright of Spectrum for the Future (SFTF) characterizes not as a simple “wireless vs. cable” fight, but more accurately as a “wireless carriers versus everyone else” battle. This opposing coalition is remarkably diverse, including cable companies like Comcast and Charter, rural broadband providers, and a vast array of enterprise and industrial users. Their core argument is that increasing power levels would effectively erase the innovative, low-power use cases that define CBRS, transforming it into just another conventional cellular band for the exclusive benefit of a few large operators. The coalition notes the irony that these carriers already control high-power licenses in bands directly adjacent to CBRS, making their push seem less about necessity and more about market consolidation.
A Thriving Ecosystem From Factories to Libraries
Away from the policy debates in Washington, the CBRS ecosystem is demonstrating robust and undeniable success on the ground. According to the OnGo Alliance, the industry group championing the technology, there are now more than 422,000 active CBRS base station radios deployed nationwide. The user base is exceptionally diverse, spanning far beyond the well-known cable operators and rural internet service providers. It includes a vast array of organizations building their own private networks, from school districts and public libraries to utility companies and heavy industries like oil and gas. CBRS is also the foundational connectivity for countless venues, including bustling airports, sprawling amusement parks, and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities.
The farm equipment manufacturer John Deere serves as a powerful case study of CBRS’s transformative industrial application. The company has invested directly by purchasing CBRS licenses in five Midwestern counties to build out its own private cellular networks within its massive manufacturing plants. Jason Wallin of John Deere states that the company has “fully drank the CBRS Kool-Aid,” projecting that in five years, 80% of its in-plant connectivity will be cellular, with Wi-Fi and legacy Ethernet relegated to supporting roles. This is not an isolated experiment; Wallin notes that John Deere is just one of more than 1,000 unique network operators currently leveraging the CBRS band, underscoring the platform’s widespread adoption and proven utility.
The AI Data Tsunami and the Hunt for New Spectrum
Looking ahead, the demand for CBRS is set to intensify dramatically, driven by applications that were not fully anticipated when the band was first established a decade ago. A primary catalyst for this new demand is the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in industrial settings. A key use case involves deploying fleets of high-definition video cameras on factory floors to monitor intricate processes, such as the automated assembly of complex machinery. These cameras generate massive, continuous streams of video data that must be uploaded from the factory floor to a central AI system for real-time analysis, quality control, and process optimization.
This surge in industrial AI creates a profound technical challenge, as it fundamentally reverses the traditional traffic model of public networks. While consumer networks are overwhelmingly designed to handle heavy downlink traffic, for activities like video streaming, these new industrial applications are intensely uplink-heavy, requiring immense capacity to send data from devices up to the network. This emerging reality is leading the CBRS community to a clear and urgent conclusion: the existing 150 megahertz of spectrum, once considered ample, will not be sufficient to support this next wave of innovation. Consequently, the coalition is now strategically focused on identifying new opportunities for shared spectrum, preferably Time Division Duplex (TDD) mid-band spectrum where established global standards can facilitate rapid equipment development and deployment.
The Citizens Broadband Radio Service had navigated a period of profound uncertainty, emerging not only intact but with a clearer sense of its own strength and a more urgent vision for its future. The policy debates in Washington and the explosive growth in deployments from factory floors to rural towns underscored a fundamental truth: the shared spectrum model was no longer just an experiment, but a critical component of America’s digital infrastructure. The fight for its preservation and expansion became a testament to the diverse coalition that depended on it, setting a new precedent for how the nation’s most valuable public resource could be managed for the benefit of all, not just a select few.
