diff --git a/pkg/scd/operational_intents_handler.go b/pkg/scd/operational_intents_handler.go
index 8ff48deb4..68f0015ba 100644
--- a/pkg/scd/operational_intents_handler.go
+++ b/pkg/scd/operational_intents_handler.go
@@ -430,6 +430,13 @@ func (a *Server) PutOperationalIntentReference(ctx context.Context, manager stri
 	action := func(ctx context.Context, r repos.Repository) (err error) {
 		var version int32 // Version of the Operational Intent (0 means creation requested).
 
+		// Lock subscriptions based on the cell to reduce the number of retries under concurrent load.
+		// See issue #1002 for details.
+		err = r.LockSubscriptionsOnCells(ctx, cells)
+		if err != nil {
+			return stacktrace.Propagate(err, "Unable to acquire lock")
+		}
+
 		// Get existing OperationalIntent, if any, and validate request
 		old, err := r.GetOperationalIntent(ctx, id)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/scd/repos/repos.go b/pkg/scd/repos/repos.go
index 2440d1a27..ab1cc4a9f 100644
--- a/pkg/scd/repos/repos.go
+++ b/pkg/scd/repos/repos.go
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package repos
 
 import (
 	"context"
-
+	"github.com/golang/geo/s2"
 	dssmodels "github.com/interuss/dss/pkg/models"
 	scdmodels "github.com/interuss/dss/pkg/scd/models"
 )
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ type Subscription interface {
 	// specified Subscription and returns the resulting corresponding
 	// notification indices.
 	IncrementNotificationIndices(ctx context.Context, subscriptionIds []dssmodels.ID) ([]int, error)
+
+	// LockSubscriptionsOnCells locks the subscriptions of interest on specific cells.
+	LockSubscriptionsOnCells(ctx context.Context, cells s2.CellUnion) error
 }
 
 type UssAvailability interface {
diff --git a/pkg/scd/store/cockroach/subscriptions.go b/pkg/scd/store/cockroach/subscriptions.go
index a9c9f182e..63fe5cf30 100644
--- a/pkg/scd/store/cockroach/subscriptions.go
+++ b/pkg/scd/store/cockroach/subscriptions.go
@@ -382,3 +382,34 @@ func (c *repo) IncrementNotificationIndices(ctx context.Context, subscriptionIds
 
 	return indices, nil
 }
+
+func (c *repo) LockSubscriptionsOnCells(ctx context.Context, cells s2.CellUnion) error {
+	cids := make([]int64, len(cells))
+
+	for i, cell := range cells {
+		cids[i] = int64(cell)
+	}
+
+	var pgCids pgtype.Int8Array
+	err := pgCids.Set(cids)
+	if err != nil {
+		return stacktrace.Propagate(err, "Failed to convert array to jackc/pgtype")
+	}
+
+	const query = `
+		SELECT
+			id
+		FROM
+			scd_subscriptions
+		WHERE
+			cells && $1
+		FOR UPDATE
+	`
+
+	_, err = c.q.Exec(ctx, query, pgCids)
+	if err != nil {
+		return stacktrace.Propagate(err, "Error in query: %s", query)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}