The FCC is going to vote on a plan to share 3.5GHz spectrum

In a few weeks the FCC is going to vote on a new spectrum-sharing plan for a band that everyone from mobile service providers, to individuals, to the United States military could make use of. Known as the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), the service would open up frequencies from 3550-3700MHz to various people and organizations and would be able to be used in much the same way that Wi-Fi is. 

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will vote April 17 on a spectrum-sharing plan for a band that could serve the military, mobile service providers and individuals. The CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) would open up frequencies from 3550-3700MHz to three classes of users, including owners of new mobile devices who could use the service like they do Wi-Fi. The FCC vote comes after several rounds of study and public comment on the proposal for more than two years. In that time, growing demand for wireless spectrum has boosted pressure on the government to share or auction off some of the many frequencies it exclusively controls. Bandwidth-hungry services like streaming video and audio, plus wireless links for a growing array of connected devices, are expected to eventually place strains on the spectrum currently allocated to wireless data.