As spectrum becomes ever more important to the world economy, the chance to influence global usage seems to attract more interest, from more countries, and with input from more businesses. This opportunity arises every four years at World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs). These conferences, run by a UN-affiliated agency called the… Read more...

Spectrum sharing has seen intense policy activity in recent years and is unusual because approaches tend to be more country-specific than in most areas of spectrum policy. In this spectrum sharing webinar we examine some of those national approaches with a panel of expert speakers: Martha Suarez, President of the… Read more...

The hopes for radical change in the relationship between mobile and satellite are largely vested in the new generation of Low earth orbit (Leo) satellites. But how many Leo satellites have launched? How much will the constellations cost? What services will they offer? Which spectrum bands will they use? How… Read more...

The next generation of low Earth orbit (Leo) satellites may have fascinated the business community but they are a long way from offering commercial services, as our latest research shows. History may not be on their side but there is no need for despair. Read more...

Professor Erik Bohlin from Chalmers University in Sweden will be joining our New Thinking on Spectrum Auctions webinar on Wednesday May 27. The webinar will consider how auctions are evolving in the light of the need to stimulate innovation and improve network investment and nationwide coverage. Professor Bohlin joins other… Read more...

Mobile and satellite have always been colleagues as well as competitors but the balance seems to be shifting in favour of cooperation. There are frequent complaints about mobile encroachment into satellite spectrum but in the background MNOs like Rakuten and Vodafone are hoping that satellite can move beyond occasional provision… Read more...

The use of spectrum auctions was once a black-and-white issue but is now more shades of grey. For over a decade auctions have been the predominant method of assigning spectrum because they incentivised spectrum efficiency whereas beauty contests often ended in legal challenges. But in many countries policy priorities have… Read more...

The UK's regulator has had a frustrating couple of months in its efforts to assign the 700 MHz and 3.6 - 3.8 GHz bands. For a start, the Coronavirus pandemic has made it harder to get anything done, especially something as sensitive as a spectrum auction. In response to the… Read more...

One of the themes in our new Spectrum Auctions Dossier is the evolution of formats. The combinatorial clock auction has declined in popularity and recent years have been mostly been notable for minor modifications of an existing approaches. But there has been one truly revolutionary development: the incentive auction. The… Read more...

Recent news about spectrum auctions has focussed on cancellations due to the COVID-19 crisis: but underlying this there are bigger issues explored in our new Spectrum Auctions Dossier.  In the past 20 years auctions have become the go-to means of assigning spectrum, but they are being questioned as never before.… Read more...