Overview of the Charts

The provided charts visualize daily counts of Citizens Broadband Radio Service Devices ("CBSDs", radios or access points operating in the CBRS 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band) from 2021-08-31 to 2026-07-22. CBRS operates under a three-tier model: incumbents (e.g., military) have top priority, followed by Priority Access Licenses (PALs, up to 70 MHz of protected spectrum per county) and General Authorized Access (GAA, 80 MHz of opportunistic, license-free spectrum). The charts focus on CBSDs with grants in PAL-only (protected, licensed access), GAA-only (opportunistic, unlicensed), or mixed (both PAL and GAA) modes.

As of 2026-07-22: 446,349 CBSDs — GAA-only 280,869 (62.9%), PAL-only 16,137 (3.6%), mixed 149,343 (33.5%). PAL-involved (PAL-only + mixed) is 37.1%.

Updates and changes since the last review

• Data window: previous narrative referenced mid-2025 conditions and external NTIA mid-2024 points; this review is driven by Key Bridge series through 2026-07-22.
• Headline changes: mixed mode is now about one-third of all CBSDs (33.5%, ~149k), up from roughly 13% at end-2022 and ~27% at end-2024. GAA-only share has declined from ~80% (end-2022) to ~63%.
• Trend continuity: GAA-only remains the single largest mode; pure PAL-only stays a thin slice.
• New or revised findings: PAL adoption is increasingly expressed as hybrid (mixed) rather than PAL-only. PAL-involved share is ~37% in the latest sample (vs. ~20% end-2022, ~32% end-2024, ~36% end-2025).
• Corrections: PAL-only is closer to ~4% of devices today than the higher “~15% peak” style ranges sometimes used in earlier prose; absolute PAL-only counts have not exploded even as mixed use has.

Key Trends in PAL Adoption

The charts illustrate rising PAL involvement amid continued overall CBRS growth, with GAA remaining the default entry tier. Here's a breakdown:

1. Dominance of GAA-Only Deployments:

   • End-2022: GAA-only ~231k (80.3% of devices).
   • End-2024: ~270k (68.2%).
   • End-2025: ~277k (64.1%).
   • Mid-2026: ~281k (62.9%).
   • Absolute GAA-only counts still grow slowly, but share falls as hybrids expand. GAA’s appeal remains zero/low license friction for pilots, indoor augmentation, and many industrial sites.

2. Rising Mixed GAA & PAL Usage:

   • End-2022: mixed ~38k (13.1%).
   • End-2024: ~107k (27.0%).
   • End-2025: ~139k (32.2%).
   • Mid-2026: ~149k (33.5%)—the fastest-growing structural segment.
   • This pattern fits a maturity story: start on GAA, then layer PAL for QoS-sensitive slices, carrier aggregation, or interference-sensitive operations.

3. Limited but Steady PAL-Only Adoption:

   • PAL-only remains a thin band: ~19k (6.6%) end-2022 → ~19k (4.8%) end-2024 → ~16k (3.8%) end-2025 → ~16k (3.6%) mid-2026.
   • Absolute PAL-only has not scaled with total market size; pure protected-only footprints stay niche (utilities, high-stakes sites, specialized enterprise).

Overall, PAL adoption is best described as hybridization of the installed base: total PAL-involved CBSDs have climbed from roughly one-fifth of devices in late 2022 to about 37% by mid-2026, while pure PAL-only stays scarce.

Implications for Commercial Viability of PAL Adoption

The charts underscore PAL's strong but targeted commercial viability: it's not a mass-market replacement for GAA but a premium enabler for revenue-generating, mission-critical applications.

1. Cost-Benefit Tradeoff Favors Hybrids:

   • Mixed mode lets operators keep GAA bandwidth for bulk capacity while using PAL for protected channels and more predictable performance. The data’s mixed-mode growth is the commercial signal: buyers often want both, not PAL alone.

2. Ecosystem and Use Case Momentum:

   • Vendor kits, neutral-host and private-network offerings, and secondary PAL leasing continue to make hybrid designs practical. Rural and industrial geographies (see U.S. distribution metrics) remain natural homes for long-lived private networks that can justify PAL where interference risk or SLAs matter.

3. Challenges and Risks:

   • Low PAL-only share highlights that many sites will not pay for pure protected operation. SAS coordination complexity, local PAL availability, and secondary-market frictions still cap pure-PAL expansion. Congestion or incumbent dynamics can still push designs toward hybrid fallbacks.

In summary, as of mid-2026 PAL is a force multiplier via mixed deployments (~34% of CBSDs) rather than a replacement for GAA (~63% still GAA-only). Commercial success shows up in hybrids and selective PAL use—not in making the entire market PAL-only.