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Are market shaping measures effective?

Most in the spectrum world agree that market shaping measures are important tools in ensuring spectrum is assigned and used efficiently. There is one awkward question though: do they actually work?

Apr 30, 2026 | Jonathan Watson

A new set of research notes recently added to the PolicyTracker Spectrum Research Service attempts to provide some kind of answer. They focus on coverage obligations, spectrum caps and licence duration. In an additional note, expert observers provide their views on what works.

Coverage obligations are widely used in spectrum auctions to promote network rollout, especially in rural or underserved areas. Policymakers and regulators see them as a way of remedying market failures by requiring operators to extend coverage beyond the most commercially attractive locations.

However, a recent European Commission study found that coverage obligations had no statistically significant effect on outcomes such as rollout or network performance. That said, the auctions studied had taken place relatively recently (2-3 years before the paper), so it could simply have been too soon to draw definite conclusions.

The study also concluded that spectrum caps, designed to prevent any single operator from accumulating an outsized share of available frequencies, had no measurable effect on key market outcomes.

In recent years, regulators have increasingly adopted longer licence terms in an attempt to support long-term investment in mobile networks. However, a report prepared by CRA for UK regulator Ofcom says that although longer licence terms could, in principle, increase mobile network operators’ certainty about their spectrum access, which could lead to increased investments in network infrastructure, there is limited empirical research on how the two interact.

Presented with these findings, telecoms experts suggest that focusing only on measurable short-term outcomes risks understating the importance of market shaping measures. Legal expert Innocenzo Genna, for example, told PolicyTracker that they can shape market outcomes decisively, especially when combined with effective MVNO access obligations.

All these notes are now available to Spectrum Research Service subscribers.