The CBRS Alliance and Small Cell Forum formed a new partnership which aims to accelerate commercialisation of the shared 3.5GHz band in the US.

Specifically, the pair will collaborate on developing products which can host traffic from different operators, defining the indoor architecture required for network densification and exploring international possibilities for shared spectrum. The groups will also align technical specification requirements and testing results of 3.5GHz equipment for both indoor and neutral host use cases.

The Small Cell Forum recently forecast unlicensed and shared spectrum could account for up to 36 per cent of small cell deployments by 2022.

Alan Ewing, executive director of the CBRS Alliance, said in a statement: “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 3.5GHz band.”

He added the two groups can offer operators and vendors “a wealth of expertise that will raise awareness for the opportunities that shared spectrum offers”.

The partnership comes as the 3.5GHz ecosystem pushes toward commercial launches in Q3 2019. Deployments were previously expected to begin in Q4 2018, but were delayed in part by a 35-day US government shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019 which halted federal review of key 3.5GHz systems and equipment.

A range of players have expressed interest in the band, including AT&T, Amazon, T-Mobile US and Verizon.