This article argues that new technologies (such as spread spectrum and ultra-wideband) make the idea of divisible allocations of the spectrum obsolete, at least as to some applications. Thus, we should consider regulating the spectrum as a "common pool regime," to use the political science term....

Local phone companies are trapped between two utterly contradictory pricing systems. At the retail level, they are forced by federal and state law to offer universal service to all customers at relatively equal prices - and often at prices that are inversely related to the cost of service (as...