Essentials of Modern Spectrum Management

by Martin Cave , Chris Doyle , William Webb

• ISBN13: 9780521876698
• ISBN10: 0521876699
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-08-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Are you fully up-to-speed on today's modern spectrum management tools? As regulators move away from traditional spectrum management methods, introduce spectrum trading and consider opening up more spectrum to commons, do you understand the implications of these developments for your own networks? This is the first book to describe and evaluate modern spectrum management tools. Expert authors offer you unique insights into the technical, economic and management issues involved. Auctions, administrative pricing, trading, property rights and spectrum commons are all explained. A series of real-world case studies from around the world is used to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches adopted by different regulators, and valuable lessons are drawn from these. This concise and authoritative resource is a must-have for telecom regulators, network planners, designers and technical managers at mobile and fixed operators and broadcasters, and academics involved in the technology and economics of radio spectrum.

Author Biography

William Webb is Head of Research and Development and Senior Technologist at Ofcom, a Visiting Professor at Surrey University and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. xi
Emerging problems with the current spectrum management approach	p. 1
Current spectrum management methods and their shortcomings	p. 3
Why spectrum needs to be managed	p. 3
The current management mechanisms	p. 4
Shortcomings of the current system	p. 6
Alternative management approaches	p. 8
How this book addresses the new approaches	p. 9
Reference	p. 9
How changing technology is impacting spectrum management	p. 11
Technology used to lend itself to discrete allocations	p. 11
Multi-modal radios	p. 12
Cognitive and software defined radios	p. 13
Ultra-wideband	p. 20
Summary	p. 23
Alternative ways of dividing spectrum	p. 25
Spectrum has been divided by frequency	p. 25
UWB raises the possibility of division by power	p. 26
Other divisions are also possible	p. 33
Summary: in practice, changes to spectrum division would be minor	p. 34
Markets	p. 35
Market solutions	p. 37
Introduction	p. 37
Market methods	p. 38
Market failures	p. 40
Conclusion	p. 41
Auctions	p. 43
Introduction	p. 43
Auctions versus administrative methods of assignment	p. 46
Theory of auctions	p. 49
Auction formats	p. 51
Auction logistics	p. 76
Conclusion	p. 81
References	p. 82
Spectrum trading: secondary markets	p. 85
Introduction	p. 85
Radio spectrum and market forces	p. 87
Spectrum trading, markets and efficiency	p. 88
Objections to spectrum trading	p. 92
The implementation of spectrum trading in the UK	p. 94
Trading in other countries	p. 97
Conclusion	p. 103
References	p. 104
Technical issues with property rights	p. 105
Introduction	p. 105
Key elements of property rights	p. 106
The problem of deployment density	p. 110
Calculating noise floor levels	p. 112
Making a property rights system work in practice	p. 112
UWB and property rights	p. 115
Managing interference	p. 116
A detailed look at the definition of property rights	p. 117
Summary	p. 121
References	p. 122
Economic issues with property rights	p. 123
Creating property rights: economic aspects	p. 123
Principles for the allocation of property rights	p. 124
Underlays and overlays	p. 128
Defining property rights for spectrum: commercial and economic issues	p. 131
Conclusion	p. 136
References	p. 137
Competition issues relating to spectrum	p. 139
Introduction	p. 139
Competition issues in a command-and-control regime	p. 141
Competition issues under a market regime for spectrum management	p. 143
Spectrum caps	p. 147
Conclusions	p. 148
Band management	p. 151
Introduction	p. 151
Types of band manager	p. 152
Fundamentals of band management	p. 154
The business case for band management	p. 157
Summary and conclusions	p. 163
Reference	p. 164
Regulation	p. 165
Incentive based spectrum prices: theory	p. 167
Introduction	p. 167
Economic efficiency and radio spectrum	p. 169
Productive efficiency and radio spectrum	p. 171
Pricing radio spectrum to achieve economic efficiency	p. 174
The Smith-NERA method of calculating spectrum prices	p. 175
Setting spectrum prices to achieve efficiency using the Smith-NERA method	p. 178
The interaction between spectrum pricing and spectrum trading	p. 181
Conclusion	p. 184
References	p. 185
Incentive based spectrum pricing: practicalities	p. 187
Introduction	p. 187
Applying administrative incentive prices: some issues	p. 188
Calculating AIP in practice: case study of fixed links in the UK	p. 193
Incentive based spectrum charges in other countries	p. 199
Conclusion	p. 200
References	p. 202
How the commons works	p. 203
Introduction	p. 203
The economics of the commons	p. 204
The likelihood of congestion in radio spectrum	p. 209
Quasi-commons: UWB and cognitive radio	p. 220
Summary	p. 220
References	p. 221
Commons or non-commons?	p. 223
Introduction	p. 223
The use of market mechanisms to determine the amount of spectrum commons	p. 223
The "total spectrum needed" approach	p. 224
The "band-by-band" approach	p. 225
Summary	p. 229
Is public sector spectrum management different?	p. 231
Introduction	p. 231
Is public sector spectrum special?	p. 232
Intermediate steps to encourage efficiency in public sector spectrum use	p. 234
Public sector incentive problems	p. 237
Conclusions	p. 238
References	p. 238
Are developing countries different?	p. 239
Introduction	p. 239
Consequences for spectrum management	p. 239
Conclusion	p. 242
References	p. 242
Conclusions	p. 245
Conclusions	p. 247
A reminder of the problem	p. 247
Key conclusions	p. 247
In summary	p. 252
Further reading	p. 253
Abbreviations	p. 257
Author biographies	p. 259
Subject index	p. 263
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