When the Federal Communications Commission finally sets its rules for auctioning spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, Verizon wants to be ready. This week the carrier filed for special temporary authority to conduct tests in Florida.
Verizon has filed an application to test Citizens Broadband Radio Service in Boca Raton, Florida, the same city in which the carrier recently reported network speeds of 953 Mbps using license-assisted access (LAA) small cells. Verizon will also test CBRS in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The carrier said it will use 10 mobile test devices supplied by “multiple mobile manufacturers,” as well as 15 Citizens Broadband Radio Service devices, or CBSDs. Ten of those will be Category A devices, which are expected to be deployed primarily indoors. According to iGR Research, the FCC is requiring Category A CBSDs to have a maximum conducted power of 24 dBm/10 MHz and to be deployed no more than 6 meters above ground level if they are outdoors. Verizon states in its application that the distance from the ground to the tip of the antenna will be 4.3 meters in both the Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale tests.
Verizon also wants to test 5 Category B CBSDs, which are expected to be larger, higher power small cells. The FCC expects these devices to be deployed exclusively outdoors.
The carrier is applying to conduct three sets of tests, one in Boca Raton and two in Ft. Lauderdale. Two of the three tests will use very low-power devices (less than 2 watts) but one of the Ft. Lauderdale tests will use 20 watt devices with a directional antenna.
The application was filed by a Verizon office located in Whites Creek, a neighborhood in Nashville, TN. The same office recently posted a job for a network real estate and regulatory engineer to develop and implement lease agreements for small cells and distributed antennas.
Verizon’s lab tests of CBRS tests took place in its Plano, Texas facility. Its partners in those tests were Ericsson, Qualcomm and Federated Wireless.
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