Spectrum license values have steadily increased over the past five years, explains Scott Wallsten in “Is There Really a Spectrum Crisis? Quantifying the Factors Affecting Spectrum License Value.” From 2007 to 2011, spectrum auction prices in terms of dollars per MHz-pop increased, suggesting that demand for wireless services outpaced technological improvements in spectrum usage. Therefore, Wallsten advises, “The FCC and NTIA should continue to move spectrum into the market and ensure that spectrum already available be able to move smoothly and efficiently through secondary transactions.”
Spectrum and Wireless
Commentaries and Op-Eds
Use the Market to Allocate Spectrum
Congress is now considering legislation to grant the FCC new authority to hold voluntary incentive auctions for spectrum. This legislation would alleviate shortages of spectrum that are threatening to hold back the development of a wireless broadband platform capable of competing with wireline platforms. It would boost the economy and advance our progress toward a more efficient, market-oriented spectrum regime.