Open Spectrum: Latest Publications

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spectrum auctions can seem arcane and technical, but in fact, auctions for exclusive licenses to use the public airwaves determine the future of American telecommunications. FCC auctions shape the competitive structure of markets and, ultimately, who controls entire industries—from broadcasting, to telephony, to wireless broadband services—that are increasingly central to U.S. productivity growth, consumer welfare, and global competitiveness.

ABSTRACT

This report presents the preliminary results from a feasibility study regarding the operation of secondary spectrum users within unused television spectrum. It has been hypothesized that television spectrum is underutilized, making it a candidate for dynamic spectrum access. The feasibility of using this spectrum for enabling secondary transmissions is assessed in this work, with a focus on the possibility of unlicensed devices interfering with digital TV reception. Specifically, we investigate the critical operating parameters for developing the technical rules for… more

This study and report were produced with funding from Microsoft Corporation.

Policy Background

In 2004, the FCC proposed to allow unlicensed wireless devices to utilize vacant television channel frequencies in each market, a rulemaking that is currently in its final stages. The FCC discussed three methods (control signals, position determination, and cognitive radio with dynamic frequency selection) to ensure that unlicensed TV band devices operate only on vacant channels without harmful interference to broadcast TV service. Of these methods, cognitive… more

Abstract

The events surrounding Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 attacks demonstrated that the communications systems used by first responders in the United States are not adequate to meet the challenges of a post-9/11 world. The U.S. system is based on assumptions that local agencies should have maximal flexibility at the expense of standardization and regional coordination, that commercial carriers and municipal systems have little role to play, that public safety should not share spectrum or network infrastructure, and that narrowband… more

Prepared for delivery at the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA September 30, 2006.  

Abstract

A debate has raged in the telecommunications policy literature over the comparative merits of the property rights and commons models of spectrum management. In this debate, the property rights model has been treated as essentially identical to the licensed model, and the commons model as essentially identical to the unlicensed model. But in making this… more