The CBRS Alliance, the industry working group dedicated to wireless services in the 3.5 GHz ‘CBRS’ band in the US, has rebranded as the OnGo Alliance in order to advance its role as the go-to support group for the shared spectrum initiatives around the world. It takes its new name from the OnGo-branded LTE and 5G solutions originally developed for CBRS spectrum in the US.
The alliance said it will leverage the successes of its members in the US, which have swelled to around 200 companies over the course of five years, to drive private LTE and 5G in shared spectrum in other markets. It said its technical work so far will help to form the basis of a new set of specifications to encompass other bands, and to enable a consistent coexistence framework across networks in a range of frequency bands.
Spectrum in the refarmed CBRS band in the US has been available since early 2020, utilised for a range of use cases, including mobile broadband, fixed wireless access, and enterprise-owned private LTE networks, notably in the education, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors.
A statement said: “The alliance has developed know-how on building an ecosystem, identifying and resolving policy and technical issues, stimulating wireless markets, and building industry consensus.
Dave Wright, president of the new OnGo Alliance, commented: “While our focus will continue to be on advancing OnGo adoption and deployments in the 3.5 GHz CBRS band, our new, expanded mission provides the latitude for us to apply our specifications, work products, and learnings in other frequencies and countries.”
Alan Ewing, executive director of the group, added: “Following the success of OnGo commercialization, the FCC, NTIA, and DoD are actively considering other bands for sharing. Additionally, the alliance is being contacted by international organizations that would like to engage and become affiliated.
“Success in the CBRS band has shown the viability of spectrum sharing in other bands and geographies. The responsible next step would be to recast the alliance as an organization dedicated to enabling 3GPP based technologies in shared spectrum.”
