Mobi Picks Federated Wireless to Enable CBRS Network Across Hawaiian Islands

Federated Wireless, Inc., a shared spectrum and private wireless leader, announced that Mobi, Inc., the regional wireless provider for Hawaii, has selected Federated Wireless as its Spectrum Access System (SAS) and Environmental Sensing Capability (ESC) partner to bring its Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) network online throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

Leveraging CBRS spectrum at 3.5 GHz, high-speed broadband services will be available in hard-to-reach regions of the islands and will enable Mobi to triple channel utilization and enhance network performance.

In January of 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized commercial use of the CBRS band to support 5G and other advanced wireless services across the United States and its territories. The Federated Wireless SAS manages access to the band by new wireless broadband operators, enabling sharing of the 3.5-3.7 GHz band with the U.S. Department of Defense and fixed satellite services. The partnership with Mobi marks the fifth expansion of the Federated Wireless ESC network, building on its coastal network of sensors in CONUS, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and most recently Alaska. On January 10, 2023, the FCC granted approval of Federated Wireless’ plans to deploy an ESC network in Alaska.

“We are thrilled to partner with Mobi, who will be able to leverage their PAL licenses and the lower 100 MHz of the CBRS band to bring reliable, high-speed broadband services throughout the Hawaiian Islands,” said Chris Swan, chief commercial officer for Federated Wireless. “The extension of our ESC network into Hawaiʻi rounds out the expansion of our CBRS operations across the United States and further solidifies our leadership in this rapidly growing marketplace.”

“Federated Wireless was the clear choice as our SAS vendor for their exceptional ESC network and expertise in network deployment as the leader in our field for enabling network operators to deploy shared spectrum efficiently and effectively,” said Justen Burdette, CEO for Mobi. “Thanks to our partnership with Federated, we are able to leverage our PAL spectrum to deliver the most advanced connectivity across Hawaiʻi, bringing high-speed, reliable broadband to even more of our communities and customers.”

The Federated Wireless ESC network is fully redundant and hardened to withstand catastrophic weather events such as hurricanes and tropical storms. This, combined with its market-leading SAS, hosted on AWS, will enable the delivery of high performance, high reliability connectivity to the Internet. The CBRS market leader, Federated Wireless was the first to launch a commercial combined SAS and ESC network, which has supported the deployment of new wireless broadband networks across several vertical markets with numerous use cases.

Federated Wireless currently has more than 450 customers with over 145,000 connected devices across the United States and territories. Its customer base spans a broad array of marketplaces from government and education to energy and manufacturing, as well as tier one Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), including Verizon Wireless nationwide CBRS 4G and 5G.

Additional deployments include tier one cable operators and tower companies; more than 100 regional and rural Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs).