Viable Alternatives to Current Methods by Promoting the Secondary Spectrum Market

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) recently issued a letter strongly opposing aspects of a draft bill entitled “Spectrum Innovation Act of 2011.” The open letter to the government cites that “aspects of the draft would threaten the continued development of affordable fixed broadband services to Americans living in rural, unserved and underserved areas of the country.” The WISPA organization has a point and raises some very significant issues, but we should not ignore the spectrum policy and innovations that the industry has been building upon over the past decade, specifically the secondary spectrum market.

Spectrum Bridge firmly believes that there are viable alternatives to current spectrum allocation methods if industry continues to promote secondary markets. In an earlier blog post, Spectrum Bridge mentioned that the secondary spectrum market was created by the FCC to enable “spectrum to flow more freely among users and uses in response to economic demand.” The demand for spectrum continues to increase on a daily basis, but there are alternatives to utilizing unused bandwidth in the U.S. as opposed to drafting and passing bills dedicated to current Spectrum Auction processes. The auction process is, realistically, only available to a small subset of spectrum users and only executed by the FCC when large swathes of spectrum are available. So in addition to limiting bidders much spectrum sits in inventory in the hope that there will eventually be enough to justify an auction. Secondary markets are the only option for many spectrum users and they can also be an outlet for the FCC to permit use of spectrum sitting idle in inventory.

Thanks to the FCC efforts and continued innovation in technology, industry is now able to stand on its own to help allocate unused frequencies on an as needed basis. Major industry players are beginning to take a larger role in how spectrum is allocated and managed. For example, Qualcomm and Nokia have recently proposed the concept of Authorized Shared Access which allows spectrum sharing via cognitive network technologies which are aimed at benefiting consumers and helping to sustain economic growth.

With the whole notion of viable alternatives to current methods, the government will not necessarily need to be in the involved, industry is more than capable of managing spectrum and allocating it to meet demand. Spectrum management solutions and secondary markets will see an increase in value over time as the ever increasing spectrum scarcity continues to burden policy makers in the near term. The increasing role of industry giants only emphasizes the desire for alternatives to current methods such as shared access and secondary markets.

- Peter Stanforth, CTO

Spectrum, Spectrum, Spectrum

Last week, the FCC released a notice of proposed rulemaking to repurpose a portion of the UHF and VHF bands that are currently being used by broadcast services. The long term goal is to make this spectrum available for fixed and mobile wireless communication services, including mobile broadband. The move to repurpose broadcast spectrum through voluntary incentive auctions coincides with the goals set forth in the National Broadband Plan to make more spectrum available for mobile broadband.

CTIA President, Steve Largent reiterated the need for more spectrum in a recent interview, “It really is the lifeblood of the industry…It really is the most critical element to the service that we provide.” Today, the FCC only has 50 MHz of spectrum in the pipeline that can be assigned for broadband use, which is just a fraction of the amount necessary to meet growing demands. However, in recent years, the FCC has recognized the need for a more efficient spectrum allocation model, encouraging secondary markets for spectrum, to allow for dynamic spectrum leasing, as well as releasing final rules to make the unused spectrum in the TV bands available for unlicensed use.

Although the FCC has shown its commitment to finding and freeing up other types of spectrum, Largent made a very good point in that bringing spectrum to market can often be a long and arduous process. “What a lot of people forget about is how long the process takes to get spectrum to the marketplace. The last two spectrum auctions that we had took somewhere between eight and 11 years to come to market. We simply can’t wait that long. The FCC and the president called for 500 MHz in the next 10 years and 300 MHz of that in the next five years. That is a laudable goal. We’re seeing if we can’t even get more spectrum and get it quicker.”

The process for transacting spectrum and bringing it to market can be a very lengthy process; in order to meet the growing demands from mobile users, wireless devices, and wireless access technologies that utilize spectrum, it is critical that the FCC utilizes existing solutions to enable expeditious transactions. One way to realize the FCC’s vision for more efficient and available spectrum is allow companies such as Spectrum Bridge to facilitate commercial contracts for leasing in the secondary market for spectrum. The existing rules in place for secondary markets would help to repurpose spectrum more quickly, while improving the efficiency of this finite resource.

America’s growing demand for mobile access anytime and anywhere make it necessary to find new avenues for bandwidth, in addition to utilizing alternative solutions such as secondary markets to expedite the process of bringing spectrum to market. To learn more about secondary spectrum markets, visit the Useful Links section of our website or contact us.

Joe Hamilla
COO

The Opening of the Secondary Spectrum Market

EVENT PRESENTATION SERIES
Key portions of presentations given by Spectrum Bridge
Post 1

The secondary spectrum market was created by the FCC to enable “spectrum to flow more freely among users and uses in response to economic demand.” The Commission recently put out a Notice of Inquiry on the secondary market and how it can be more efficient. They want to encourage spectrum holders who have licenses to put them to use – whether that’s through selling, leasing, partitioning, disaggregating, etc. For the vision to work there needs to be a favorable regulatory environment and a favorable market – and the time is NOW.

One of the most vocal commissioners working on secondary market rules and driving the initiatives behind them is Meredith Attwell Baker. In a recent interview with The Hill, Commissioner Baker stated:

“We need a more vibrant secondary market. I’m talking about more spectrum sharing between private and federal. There’s going to be a lot that can be done in those areas that almost all depend on a better database. One of the recommendations you’re going to see is a more user-friendly, a more thorough database that can be used on an hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute basis.” “We need to find more spectrum, I think we need to leverage the spectrum that exists currently more efficiently, and we need to encourage new technologies an innovation.”

- FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, November 24, 2009

Commissioner Baker is encouraging the secondary spectrum market to find alternative uses for spectrum, to find more efficient uses of spectrum, and to build a centralized database that allows utilization of spectrum on an as-needed basis.

With new spectrum possibilities forming, a license holder has more opportunities and options to engage in spectrum transactions, whereas a seeker of licensed frequencies will see more spectrum available than originally thought (search available licenses). Due to the favorable regulatory environment, favorable FCC rulings, and being able to re-task traditional uses of spectrum, new applications are being developed.

Spectrum is an asset that is no longer being sought after by carriers alone. Nontraditional players are now getting into the spectrum arena, not for the core of their business model, but as end-users of spectrum. Federal initiatives are impelling more spectrum ownership by utilities, railways, and private enterprises:

• Utilities are purchasing AMTS and former IVDS spectrum for smart grid applications
• New entrants from railroads seeking positive train control (PTC) solutions are using 220 MHz for intelligent transportation systems
• New entrants, service providers and private networks looking to utilize TV white spaces

Through spectrum asset management tools, an online spectrum marketplace and an enhanced TV white spaces database, Spectrum Bridge is enabling the new and expanded uses of wireless spectrum. We offer a range of scalable solutions to meet the needs of the smallest of local enterprises to the largest global spectrum holders and users.

Next in the series, we’ll talk about some possible scenarios for private enterprises looking for a spectrum solutions…