CBRS Market Metrics

The Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) is a transformative U.S. spectrum-sharing framework that opens the 3.5 GHz band (3550–3700 MHz) to commercial use while protecting incumbent military radar systems. Access is managed through a three-tier hierarchy:

Incumbent Access (federal and legacy users)
Priority Access Licenses (PALs) (auctioned, protected commercial licenses)
General Authorized Access (GAA) (opportunistic, unlicensed use)

Managed dynamically by Spectrum Access Systems (SAS), CBRS has become a cornerstone of private 4G/5G networks, neutral-host deployments, and fixed wireless access (FWA) services since its commercial launch in 2020.

All metrics are derived from live, daily-updated data collected by Key Bridge since our commercial SAS service began in August 2021. They track deployment growth, utilization patterns, and spectrum behavior across the United States.

Key Highlights

Deployment Scale: About 446,000 CBSDs are registered in the national snapshot as of mid-July 2026—roughly 2.7× the August 2021 archive baseline (~165,000), with multi-year growth still positive though slower than the early ramp.
Network Diversity: Each registered CBSD represents an active wireless network tailored to specific verticals or use cases.
Spectrum Mix: GAA still accounts for about 80% of active grant volume, while on the radio side roughly 63% of CBSDs are GAA-only and about 37% use PAL (PAL-only or mixed). Outdoor / Category B configurations dominate (~96%).
Dynamic Behavior: Local incumbent activity and PAL holdings create distinctive channel-selection patterns—especially the split between PAL-bearing channels 1–10 and GAA-heavy channels 11–15.

As private 5G, Open RAN, and industrial wireless deployments mature, CBRS continues to address mid-band spectrum demand for enterprises, mobile operators, cable companies, and WISPs.

Updates and changes since the last review

Data window: the previous public narratives largely described conditions through mid-to-late 2025; this review uses archive snapshots through 2026-07-22 (files dated 2026-07-23).
Headline changes: total CBSDs are near 446k (vs. ~400k+ language previously); mixed PAL+GAA usage continues to climb toward one-third of devices; grant volume has pushed past 1.3M combined GAA+PAL grants in the latest sample.
Trend continuity: GAA remains the volume workhorse for grants and the majority mode for devices; geographic concentration (Texas-led, industrial/rural counties) is unchanged in character.
New or revised findings: 2025–2026 growth is steadier and slower than the 2022–2023 expansion phase; PAL-only share stays thin while hybrid use deepens.
Corrections: earlier marketing-style “23× growth from near zero” does not match this archive series (start ~165k in Aug 2021). Radio-profile mixes are far more Category B / outdoor-skewed (~96%) than the prior ~70–80% estimates suggested.

Note on Analysis

Narrative commentary and interpretations in this report were generated with assistance from Grok (xAI). This approach leverages Grok’s strong analytical capabilities while ensuring no confidential Key Bridge data influences the editorial narrative. All interpretations are based solely on publicly available information and should be read critically alongside your own judgment.

Origins & Credits

These metrics build on foundational work by:

Andy Clegg (formerly Google), who pioneered the “CBRS by the Numbers” series
The quarterly CBRS by the numbers SAS Administrator report
The 2024 NTIA Technical Report 25-575 by Douglas M. Boulware and Anthony W. Romaniello (U.S. Department of Commerce)

Our reports extend these efforts by providing live, daily-refreshed data and multi-year trend views.

References

NTIA Technical Report 25-575 (November 2024)
CBRS by the numbers (November 2024)