The illusion of spectrum scarcity

 Come what come may, penned the Bard, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. Actually, time brings all things to pass! Everything is a matter of chronology, really. Consider, for instance, the radio frequency spectrum for mobile telephony. In particular, the issue of extra bandwidth for the next — the third—generation (3G) mobile services. With the passage of time and technological change, the notion of routinely licensing chunks of spectrum for service providers is now being vigorously questioned, the world over. Very unlike in the analogue era, today’s digital technologies do allow for new approaches to freeing up and managing spectrum. As much as 99% of even highly saturated bands may be vacant in any specific moment in time and space, innovative software can dynamically shift signals to make full use of the fleeting openings in the wireless “ether”(“white spaces”). The point is, new technologies do allow for much flexibility in spectrum usage. The hitherto wholly under-utilised dimension of the spectrum can come into full play with new protocols that allow for regular use of the “white spaces” on frequencies. So, although the electromagnetic spectrum is finite and limited, it can be virtually non-depleting for practical purposes. The implication that spectrum may not be scarce in the traditional sense has profound significance for public policy design. It may well call for a paradigm shift. Against the backdrop of “dynamic spectrum allocation” with its possibilities for enhanced wireless connectivity, a spectrum policy of allocating extra bands of static (read ‘fixed’) spectrum to network operators is entirely questionable. Static spectrum allocation can be very inefficient indeed. Now, bandwidth demand would vary along the time dimension (from hour to hour), and the space dimension (from region to region). So it would inevitably be the case that the region with the largest spectrum peak demand would determine the spectrum demand for the whole mobile network. This would be the case for each service provider. The end result would be that a substantial part of the spectrum would be summarily wasted, in any given time and space. Instead, we need to leverage recent advances in spectrum management practice to make way for flexible and open access to a precious resource, the airwaves, in an increasingly wireless world. The fact remains that the instrument most used to assign spectrum resources to telecom operators has been auctions. The idea has been around since circa 1959. The logic was that the telco estimating the highest value for the spectrum would likely bid the most.

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