Federated Wireless introducing new option to deliver high-speed broadband in rural areas
Federated Wireless, a shared spectrum and private network provider, announced it will be introducing the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) in Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands to deliver service to the region’s Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
With the buildout and deployment of its Environmental Sensing Capability (ESC) network, high speed broadband will now be available in hard-to-reach regions of the area, including those impacted by recent hurricanes, the company said.
This new capability also will enable local carriers to enhance network performance through mid-spectrum bandwidth, it added.
CBRS) is a new Private LTE network option now available in the United States and its territories. It occupies 150MHz of shared spectrum in the 3.5 GHz C-band, also known as Band 48 (B48). Traditionally, this band had been reserved for users in the U.S. military and fixed satellite service.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced plans in May 2021 to make the mid-band spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band (3550 to 3700 MHz) available for 5G and other advanced wireless services to an array of operations, clearing the path for commercial deployments in the band in Puerto Rico and the USVI.
Federated is the first provider to extend its CBRS Spectrum Access System (SAS) operations into the islands, it stated.
“Federated Wireless is excited to be working closely with the area’s most innovative customers who will now be able to use their PAL licenses and the lower 100Mhz of CBRS to enable new services where there is a great need for reliable, high performance Internet connectivity,” said Don Hutton, Federated Wireless senior vice president of sales.
Federated is currently providing broadband services to multiple customers in the region, including Aeronet, a wireless broadband company serving startups, small and mid-size businesses, corporations, and ISPs in Puerto Rico.
“We selected Federated Wireless as our SAS vendor due to their wealth of experience with network building and their premier ESC network,” said Gino Villarini, founder of Aeronet. “As a PAL winner, licensed spectrum will help us to guarantee future operations for our customers and further enable their business model in areas lacking connectivity.”
The Federated Wireless ESC network is fully redundant and hardened to withstand catastrophic weather events such as hurricanes and tropical storms.
