Good info, Matt.
One thing to consider, the various SAS vendors may offer services that make them attractive to certain WISPs. Like coordinating between adjacent WISPs, or making it easier to bond channels, or taking into consideration APs that are synced and can be on the same frequency, I’m probably not doing a good job thinking of what those might be, but the CBRS experts at WISPA are familiar with them. So if we don’t directly choose and contract with a SAS vendor but rather deal with Cambium as an intermediary, that could possibly be problematic, if a WISP really doesn’t agree with the choice Cambium makes. Also as far as fees, I hope the SAS vendors understand that a few dollars per subscriber could amount to 10% of revenue. It’s one thing for mobile wireless where the CPE is low power and you only pay per basestation. But with fixed wireless, we are paying for every sub, and if the SAS vendors get too greedy, the whole deal could fall apart. The going rate for services that charge per subscriber (like billing systems or bandwidth management systems) is in the range of $0.50 to $1.00. If they are thinking $3 or $5 per customer, that’s a lot just to maintain a database and tell you what frequency you can use. I’m going to assume that any of the big 4 mobile carriers who are seriously planning to deploy fixed wireless are telling them the same thing, unless their plan is to use CBRS opportunistically and only pay SAS fees when a particular CPE needs to use the spectrum. That’s the big difference, they are doing spectrum aggregation, while we are using CBRS as our exclusive spectrum for those particular APs and CPEs. From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Matt Mangriotis via AF Sent: Friday, February 15, 2019 4:28 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com> Cc: Matt Mangriotis <matt.mangrio...@cambiumnetworks.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] [ External ] Re: Are NN licenses still selling despite CBRS coming? Regarding the original question… I am not sure what they’re worth, but depending on the FCC response to the petition to extend part 90 operations beyond April 17, 2020, and what they rule regarding license expiration dates, that value could go up a bit. The whole CBRS subject is quite complex as you might imagine… As of right now, I believe there are 5 vendors approved to be SAS providers: Federated Wireless, CommScope, Google, Keybridge and Sony. (Of those, there will be 2 separate ESC (Environmental Sensing Capability) sensor networks. One installed by Federated, and one jointly owned/operated by Google and CommScope. This network provides capabilities for coastal operation where exclusion zones existed under Part 90 rules). We at Cambium plan to utilize cnMaestro as the domain proxy (or the link) to the SAS service. As a customer of ours, you’ll be paying the monthly fees directly to us, and we will be handing that over to the SAS provider. We are working with all of the Big 3 (Federated, CommScope and Google) and will choose the provider that provides the best service and price for our customers. The goal is to eliminate some of the burden associated with CBRS operation. I am not yet sure exactly what the fees will be for this, but you can ball park it at a few dollars per device per month. Dave is correct in that the PMP 450 platform (all devices), which are currently certified under Part 90 rules, will require simply a software update in order to continue operating under Part 96 rules. All of the hardware was designed to support operation all the way down to 3550 MHz from the beginning, and will communicate with the SAS as required by Part 96. Regarding timing, it looks like ICD (Initial Commercial Deployment) may begin in May, and actual commercial release of GAA operation should happen sometime late Q3. PAL auctions look to be mid-2020 or a bit later. Cambium will publish more about this in the near future on our site, and we will be discussing this briefly during WISPAmerica. I will be there if any of you guys want to come out to Cincinnati and chat about it. Matt From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> > On Behalf Of Ken Hohhof Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2019 5:55 PM To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > Subject: [ External ] Re: [AFMUG] Are NN licenses still selling despite CBRS coming? My point was there is not a single SAS administrator, there are multiple vendors like Google, Federated Wireless and Commscope I think. Each will have their own pricing and other pros and cons to choosing them vs another. As far as Cambium, I expect you will need to use cnMaestro which will provide the interface to whichever SAS vendor you select. From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> > On Behalf Of dave Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2019 5:23 PM To: af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Are NN licenses still selling despite CBRS coming? >From what I understand if you have cambium gear that it can be turned up with >a firmware update. As far as who gets paid the monthly check for use of the sas I am not clear on yet but I think cambium will be a big player in this to help folks that have their gear. On 2/13/19 5:09 PM, Ken Hohhof wrote: Which SAS vendor? From: AF <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Adam Moffett Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2019 4:18 PM To: af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Are NN licenses still selling despite CBRS coming? I heard today that the SAS was supposed to be operational imminently. The claim was that it would already have been up if not for the federal shutdown. I was told to expect it in March. ....I guess we'll see. It was a year away for 10 years, so maybe it'll be a month away for 10 months. -Adam On 2/11/2019 8:36 AM, Christopher Gray wrote: Is there still value in selling an NN license? What sort of prices these days? --
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