The future of spectrum policy

Our wireless connectivity needs continue to climb at a breakneck speed, and yet spectrum unperturbably stays unchanged. To meet our connectivity demand, we have to increase spectrum utilization. Technology and densification help, but regulation also plays an essential role. How should we regulate spectrum use and allocate the finite and scarce spectrum resources available among those who need them?

This is the big question we tackled in this Sparring Partners with Mike ORielly, MPORielly Consulting and former FCC Commissioner, and Amit Nagpal, Partner, Aetha Consulting and previous Sparring Partner.

It was a free-ranging discussion as usual, and these are some of the topics we covered:

• Spectrum sharing and other new regulatory regimes
• How to best make spectrum available for enterprise private networks, public entities and other users
• How to make sure incumbents and new users can coexist
• The expansion to new, higher frequency bands
• How to make sure spectrum is used efficiently (and what does efficiently mean, anyway)