We can change spectrum policy but can we change national culture?

You have to admire Globalstar chairman and chief executive Jay Monroe. He wants to turn the company’s MSS spectrum (2483.5–2495 MHz)  into a paid-for Wi-Fi zone, which he believes will relieve the imminent congestion in the existing  2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi bands.

Short-sellers Kerrisdale Capital think it’s a ridiculous idea and have managed to wipe billions off Globalstar’s share price. I don’t know who is right, but I was struck by Monroe’s desire to take a huge bet on the future demand for Wi-Fi.

Over the past decade, policymakers have tried to encourage this sort of entrepreneurial risk-taking in Europe’s spectrum community. But where are the radical proposals from huge companies like Globalstar? Start-ups and smaller companies are active in white space and the Internet of Things, but these do not involve the wholesale repurposing of spectrum.

Maybe Europe hasn’t achieved the same level of wireless entrepreneurship as the States because it requires the changing of a much wider business culture. In a recent Ernst and Young study, the US scored highest in the access to funding and entrepreneurial culture categories. The stock market has always played a larger part in national life in the US than in Europe: despite the 2008 crash, over half of Americans own shares.

Spectrum policy in Europe can create the space for innovation, but our business culture must also provide the entrepreneurs to fill that space.