The CBRS Alliance and the Wireless Innovation Forum announced this week that Ericsson, Nokia and Sercomm have joined Arris’ Ruckus Networks unit as the first technology vendors to achieve certification for new CBRS band devices.
Last month, Ruckus said that it had been given FCC certification for its entire portfolio of “OpenG”-branded access points designed to work in the 3.5 Ghz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum.
Related: Ruckus Gets CBRS Certification for Access Points
Cable and wireless operators are exploring opportunities for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device band, a 150 MHz-wide portion of largely underused spectrum existing between 3.55 GHz and 3.7 GHz. CBRS will ultimately be used for private LTE networks such as airports and industrial campuses.
Having the telecom industry’s major vendors certified is a major step in the broader plan to have CBRS commercial deployments achieved by the end of the year. Earlier today, Federated Wireless said that it has asked the FCC for permission to move forward with commercial CBRS deployments as soon as October, the company announced.
“This major milestone in the commercialization of the CBRS band represents the first of what we believe will be many more certifications announced over the next few months as the industry moves towards Initial Commercial Deployment,” said Lee Pucker, CEO of the Wireless Innovation Forum, in a statement.
By the end of the year, the CBRS Alliance said it expects to have nearly a dozen labs set up around the world to conduct testing for what it has branded as its “OnGo” certification of CBRS technology.
“We see immense value in leveraging OnGo technology for private LTE and neutral host environments and are seeing growing interest across industry sectors, including public venues, smart cities, enterprises, healthcare and more,” said Chris Stark, head of North American business development at Nokia and chairman of the CBRS Alliance.
“Ruckus Networks believes this innovation band will open up compelling new use cases by enabling LTE technology to be deployed and operated in a cost effective and scalable manner,” added Mehmet Yavuz, CTO of Ruckus Networks. “As one of the first companies to achieve FCC & OnGo certification for 3.5 GHz indoor and outdoor access points, we have been seeing extraordinary results in more than 20 OnGo trials across different verticals that are ready for initial commercial deployment and range from connectivity to automation use cases.”
