Analysis of CBSD Deployment Trends

These charts illustrate the growth and configuration of Citizen Broadband Radio Service Devices (CBSDs) from 2021-08-31 to 2026-07-22, focusing on counts across operating categories, deployment environments (outdoor vs. indoor), and height categories (above vs. below 6 meters above ground level, or AGL). Total devices in this snapshot: 446,349.

As of 2026-07-22:

• Category A 19,339 (4.3%) / Category B 427,010 (95.7%)
• Indoor 19,073 (4.3%) / Outdoor 427,276 (95.7%)
• Above 6 m AGL 252,003 (56.5%) / Below 6 m AGL 194,346 (43.5%)

Updates and changes since the last review

• Data window: previous narrative described mid-2025 conditions; this review uses series through 2026-07-22.
• Headline changes: Category B and outdoor configurations each remain near 96% of the installed base; Category A and indoor each remain near 4%. Height data are now in the public CSV: above 6 m holds a durable majority (~56–58% across the archive; 56.5% latest).
• Trend continuity: the outdoor / Category B bias has been structural for the entire archive (already ~96% by end-2022), not a late-period surprise. Above-6 m share has likewise stayed in a narrow band since 2021.
• New or revised findings: absolute Category A and indoor counts have grown (from a few thousand in 2021 to ~19k) without taking share. Below-6 m counts grew from ~74k to ~194k while above-6 m grew from ~91k to ~252k—both scale with the market; above-6 m remains larger in both absolute and share terms.
• Corrections: prior prose estimating Category B / outdoor at roughly 70–80% understated the outdoor/high-power skew. Earlier review notes that height was chart-only are obsolete—the export now includes above6m_count and below6m_count.

1. Daily Count of CBSDs by Operating Category

• Category-Specific Trends:
  • Category A (lower-power, indoor-focused devices): grew from ~2.7k (2021-08-31) to ~10.6k (end-2022), ~16.6k (end-2023), ~15.7k (end-2024), ~18.1k (end-2025), and ~19.3k by mid-2026. Share stays near 4%.
  • Category B (higher-power, outdoor-capable devices): grew from ~163k to ~427k over the same span and holds ~95–96% throughout.
• Current mix: Category B is 95.7% of devices; Category A is 4.3%.
• Key Trend: National CBRS scale is overwhelmingly Category B. Category A is real and growing slowly in absolute terms but remains a small share of total devices.

2. Deployed Outdoor vs. Indoor

• Environment-Specific Trends:
  • Outdoor: ~163k → ~427k (latest), consistently ~96% of the base.
  • Indoor: ~2.5k → ~19k, remaining ~4%.
• Current mix: Outdoor 95.7% / Indoor 4.3%.
• Key Trend: Outdoor deployments outnumber indoor by roughly 22:1. That pattern aligns with fixed wireless, industrial campus, and outdoor enterprise use more than pure indoor small-cell replacement of Wi-Fi.

3. Deployed Above or Below 6m AGL

• Height-Specific Trends:
  • Above 6 m (e.g., pole/rooftop mounts): 91,265 (2021-08-31) → 165,099 (end-2022) → 210,964 (end-2023) → 229,629 (end-2024) → 246,261 (end-2025) → 252,003 (2026-07-22). Share has stayed in a tight ~55–58% band.
  • Below 6 m (e.g., ground-level or low-mount): 74,157 → 121,955 → 154,113 → 166,204 → 185,784 → 194,346 over the same milestones. Share has stayed near ~42–45%.
• Current mix: Above 6 m 56.5% / Below 6 m 43.5%.
• Key Trend: Elevated mounts are the majority configuration, but the split is much more balanced than the outdoor/Category B dominance. A large outdoor fleet still includes a substantial below-6 m population (low poles, building-adjacent mounts, industrial yards). Height is not a near-96/4 split—unlike category and indoor/outdoor.

Cross-Chart Configuration Insights

• Interconnections: Outdoor deployments strongly align with Category B in this dataset (shares match almost exactly at the national level). Indoor and Category A move together as a small minority class. Height is a third, more balanced axis: majority above 6 m (~56–58%) coexists with a large below-6 m minority (~42–45%), so “outdoor” should not be equated with “always elevated.”
• Temporal Shifts: Growth since 2021 has been almost entirely in the outdoor / Category B majority. Above- and below-6 m counts both scaled up roughly in parallel, keeping the height ratio stable rather than flipping the market to rooftops-only.
• Implications: CBRS at national scale looks like an outdoor, higher-power private-network and FWA platform, with a smaller indoor/low-power footprint and a moderate bias toward elevated mounts. Planning and interference analysis should still account for a large below-6 m outdoor population—not only tower/rooftop sites.