Small Cell Forum and the CBRS Alliance have agreed to work together to drive development and promote the adoption of OnGo solutions for the 3.5 GHz ecosystem.
OnGo is the brand for LTE-based solutions for use in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service band. The two organizations said that they will jointly work to drive commercialization and wide-scale adoption of small cells and network densification with OnGo-certified solutions. Specifically, they’ll work on development of “multi-operator solutions in the 3.5 GHz band, defining indoor solution architectures for densification, and exploring the international opportunity for Spectrum Access System-coordinated shared spectrum.”
Small Cell Forum forecasts anticipate that unlicensed and shared spectrum could make up as much as 36% of small cell deployments by 2022. The two organizations noted that CBRS Alliance is already supporting testing and certification of OnGo small cells — which are referred to as Citizens Broadband Radio Service Devices or CBSDs. Meanwhile, Small Cell Forum “continues to play a significant role in defining how small cells will behave in shared spectrum.” So a collaboration effort around CBRS and small cells means that they will both be “closely aligned on technical specification requirements and testing results of CBSDs for both indoor and neutral host use cases.”
Richard Kennedy, COO of the Small Cell Forum, said that “the combination of small cells and shared spectrum will have a disruptive effect on the mobile market, both in the United States and other regions around the world.”
“As the industry shifts to focus on network densification, we expect that small cells will be a key driver for the adoption of 4G and 5G solutions in the 3.5 GHz band,” said Alan Ewing, executive director of the CBRS Alliance, in a statement. He added that the two organizations offer significant expertise and can raise awareness about opportunities in the CBRS and small cells spaces.
