Why We Are Bullish on CBRS

Why does the wireless industry feel so stagnant

... and why are we so bullish on CBRS?

If you follow telecom news, it is easy to feel like the industry is moribund. Consumer wireless has become a pure utility. Your phone works fine, speeds are good enough, switching carriers rarely feels meaningful, and the latest flagship is often just an incremental upgrade with better cameras and slightly bigger emojis. Global telecom revenue grows only 1 to 3 percent annually. ARPU is flat in most markets. And 5G, despite massive investment, has not delivered the consumer revolution once promised. There are no ubiquitous AR glasses, no remote surgery boom, and no autonomous car explosion yet. Carriers compete on price, bundles, and promotions rather than breakthrough innovation. It is classic late-stage maturity: reliable, essential, but not exciting.

That surface-level boredom is real. But it hides a deeper story. The real action has shifted away from consumer handsets toward infrastructure, convergence, and enterprise applications. Two areas stand out as genuine growth engines: Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and private LTE/5G networks. CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) is a critical enabler making much of this possible, especially in the United States.

1. Fixed Wireless Access (FWA): Wireless broadband’s breakout moment

FWA uses 5G to deliver home and business internet without digging trenches for fiber. It is one of the few clear commercial wins from 5G so far.

Why it is growing fast: It is faster and cheaper to deploy than fiber, especially in suburban and rural areas. Performance is more than good enough for streaming, remote work, and most households. Carriers like Verizon and T-Mobile are using it aggressively to steal share from cable companies.
Scale in 2026: Strong subscriber growth continues, with both residential and enterprise FWA accelerating. It is helping close the digital divide while creating a new revenue stream where traditional wired builds do not make economic sense.

FWA is the bridge that lets wireless carriers compete directly in the fixed broadband market. It is blurring the old line between mobile and home internet.

2. Private Networks: The real enterprise revolution

This is where the most exciting and highest-margin activity is happening. Enterprises are building dedicated cellular networks for their own sites instead of relying solely on public carrier networks or patchy Wi-Fi.

Key drivers:

Wi-Fi limitations at industrial scale: Interference, poor mobility for robots and forklifts, and unpredictable performance create real problems in factories, ports, warehouses, airports, and energy sites.
Demand for reliability: Automation, AI, robotics, real-time monitoring, and Industry 4.0 require deterministic low-latency, high-reliability connectivity with seamless handoffs and stronger security.
Tangible ROI: Factories are seeing uptime improvements of 15 to 20 percent or more. Ports and logistics gain safer operations. Utilities achieve smarter grid management.

Private LTE (dominant today) and private 5G (evolving) deliver cellular-grade performance tailored to specific locations. Deployments have moved well beyond pilots. There were over 6,500 real operational private networks globally by the end of 2025, and the number continues to grow rapidly.

Why CBRS Is Relevant — and Increasingly Important

CBRS is the 150 MHz shared spectrum band (3.5 GHz) in the United States with a smart three-tier system (protected incumbents, priority licenses, and open General Authorized Access). It is often called the “Innovation Band” for good reason.

Its growing relevance in 2026:

It powers a majority of U.S. private 5G networks (roughly 60-75 percent rely on CBRS).
440,240 CBRS-enabled base stations (CBSDs) have been deployed as of today, covering more than 80 percent of U.S. counties.
It is expected to fuel thousands more networks in manufacturing alone, with very high reliance on CBRS.
It enables cost-effective, flexible deployment without expensive exclusive spectrum licenses or full carrier dependency. It is ideal for factories, ports, energy sites, campuses, rural broadband, and more.

CBRS democratizes mid-band spectrum. These are the “Goldilocks” frequencies that balance great coverage and capacity. It lowers barriers for enterprises and smaller operators. It accelerates innovation in automation and IoT. And it helps the United States maintain leadership in private wireless. It is also boosting rural and underserved areas through FWA.

In short: CBRS transforms spectrum that was largely underused (originally reserved for naval radar) into a shared, dynamic resource. It is powering the shift from public consumer networks to private, mission-critical infrastructure.

The Bigger Picture

The wireless industry is not dying. It is maturing on the consumer side while reinventing itself underneath as critical infrastructure for AI, automation, and digital transformation. Classic consumer telecom feels commoditized because it largely is. The real growth and differentiation are happening in FWA (broadband competition) and private networks (enterprise productivity).

CBRS is a foundational ingredient in that reinvention, especially in the United States. It proves that smart, forward-looking spectrum policy can unlock real economic value: more productive factories, resilient infrastructure, expanded broadband access, and new capabilities that Wi-Fi or traditional licensing models could not deliver as effectively.

The industry may feel dull from the outside. But underneath, the foundations for the next wave (industrial automation, localized intelligence, and reliable connectivity for emerging technologies) are being built right now. And CBRS is helping make it happen.

If you are an enterprise leader, policymaker, or investor watching telecom, this is the part worth paying attention to. The boring surface hides meaningful, long-term progress.

Jesse Caulfield CEO, Key Bridge Wireless