Spectrum auctioning is really bad policy.
Spectrum is like the road network. Why would we sell it to the highest bidder for them to sell it back to us?
Instead, spectrum should be public and free, like roads, for those that follow the usage rules.
Spectrum is like the road network. Why would we sell it to the highest bidder for them to sell it back to us?
Instead, spectrum should be public and free, like roads, for those that follow the usage rules.
In US transportation, this is seen in how we lost the rail right of ways. We sold them off, and we may never get them back. And it'll be a huge problem if we ever come to our senses and pivot back to trains.
That isn't a tautology, it's a statement of fact: spectrum has a dollar value. In nature. In nature it's got a price. Because men will trade, or pay, or war for it.
Therefore, to allocate it efficiently, we should allow it to trade at that value. This is how that spectrum makes the most number of people happy.
That may sound like right-wing pablum, but it's a subject that has been well trod by great thinkers for a very, very long time. [1]
[1] Coase, to mention just one
Notably, wireless deployments differ from road use in that using a wireless spectrum assignment requires significant deployment time and capital investment, meaning when a frequency range is assigned it's reasonable to expect and allow a single entity to control that range for an extended period. With roads, on the other hand, a single use can be as short as a few minutes, meaning a similar auction would need to re-occur hundreds or thousands of times a day.
Further, if wireless spectrum ranges are not pre-assigned, it becomes quite difficult for multiple entities trying to use the same range to coordinate to avoid interference that would render the range useless to both. Roads, on the other hand, can be reasonably shared by multiple users without any coordination ahead of time.
Because of these practical difficulties, and the lack of an inherent need for usage assignments, most roads are not tolled or auctioned, and the result is heavy congestion in highly-sought-after routes at peak times.
Entities investing in roadway leases and toll roads align closer to wireless deployments, IMHO.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-15-u.s.-h...
Wouldn't driving on a road for a few minutes correlate closer to making a phone call or sending a text?
(I can't believe I am perpetuating this analogy :P)
Perhaps we could institute a transaction or device tax that would pay for government maintenance of spectrum transmission?