The CBRS Alliance and Small Cell Forum are putting their respective resources together in an effort to drive wide-scale adoption of small cells and OnGo-certified products for the 3.5 GHz band.

The organizations announced Thursday that they’ll collaborate on a number of initiatives related to advancing the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band, including investigating multi-operator solutions, defining indoor solution architectures for densification, and examining the international opportunity for Spectrum Access System-coordinated shared spectrum.

In order to accelerate small cell deployment in the CBRS band, the organizations will work together to develop and jointly promote resources related to shared spectrum and OnGo small cells.

“As the industry shifts to focus on network densification, we expect that small cells will be a key driver for the adoption of 4G and 5G solutions in the 3.5 GHz band,” said Alan Ewing, Executive Director of the CBRS Alliance, in a statement. “Together, the CBRS Alliance and Small Cell Forum offer a wealth of expertise that will raise awareness for the opportunities that shared spectrum offers small cell vendors, network operators, and others in the ecosystem.”

The pairing seem like a natural fit, as forecasts from the Small Cell Forum predict up to 36 percent of small cell deployments will be in unlicensed and shared spectrum by 2022.

CBRS Alliance launched its OnGo branding and certification program last May, and has been working closely with government officials and industry partners to test and certify OnGo small cells. As part of the new agreement, CBRS Alliance and the Small Cell Forum will closely align on technical specification requirements and test results for Citizens Broadband Radio Service Devices (CBSDs), both for indoor and neutral host use cases, the organizations said.  

“The combination of small cells and shared spectrum will have a disruptive effect on the mobile market, both in the United States and other regions around the world,” said Richard Kennedy, COO of the Small Cell Forum. “We’re excited to partner with the CBRS Alliance to continue to promote the value and potential of small cells in the 3.5 GHz band.”