Economic analysis of spectrum allocation policies focuses on competitive bidding for wireless licenses. Auctions generating high bids, as in Germany and the UK, are identified as successful, while those producing lower receipts, as in Switzerland and the Netherlands, are deemed fiascoes. Yet,...

Property rights to provide wireless services are severely truncated, with licenses typically defining services, technologies, and business models. Economists have long advocated liberalization, allowing wireless operators to optimize inputs and outputs subject only to airwave interference...

The traditional system of radio spectrum allocation has inefficiently restricted wireless services. Alternatively, liberal licenses ceding de facto spectrum ownership rights yield incentives for operators to maximize airwave value. These authorizations have been widely used for mobile services...