Citizens Broadband Radio Service faces hurdles at FCC

An FCC plan to use spectrum-sharing techniques to open up the 3.5 GHz band for wireless broadband use--the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)--is encountering concerns that it might have unintended ramifications in the United States as well as globally based on ground-breaking efforts to use complicated spectrum-sharing techniques to free up the targeted spectrum. The notion has the support of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) but appears unlikely to catch on outside of North America, partly because folks like Jussi Kahtava, director of UK-based Allied Spectrum Associates, contend the inclusion of an unlicensed GAA tier makes the CBRS more complex than it needs to be. For more, check out this FierceWirelessTech special report.