The reasons for departing from a command-and-control regulatory model of wireless spectrum include increased flexibility, efficiency, and innovation. Properly framing the question is essential to understanding how to approach modifications to a command-and-control regulatory model: is it a...

The risk of interference from operations in adjacent channels has been largely ignored in estimating the value of radio licenses. This is surprising since adjacent channel and out-of-band interference have figured prominently in recent license conflicts, including public safety vs. Nextel in the...

A collection of eight papers presented at a half-day conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday, November 12, 2010 to address the question: How should radio operating rights be defined, assigned, and enforced in order to obtain the maximum benefit from wireless operations? The event was organized...

The relentless change of the communications industry generates a long slate of new policy ideas. This paper reports on a cross section of these proposals that were introduced in meetings held under the auspices of the Silicon Flatirons Center’s New Models of Governance project; introduces a...

In judging whether to allow new service rules, a regulator has to balance the interests of incumbents, new entrants and the public. The trade-off between the benefits of a new service and the risks to incumbents has to date been essentially qualitative. This short paper proposes the use of...

The impact of a new radio service allocation on incumbents is traditionally estimated using deterministic, single-value calculations, often of the worst-case. This is no longer tenable given increasing demand for spectrum rights, since it leads to over-conservative allocations that limit the...

The increasingly intensive coexistence of diverse radio systems and the inability of existing institutions to resolve conflicts in a timely manner require a change in the way operating rights are defined, assigned and enforced. This paper proposes a regulatory approach that increases delegation...

Policy discussions about wireless communication are usually framed in terms of spectrum, signals, and radios. Spectrum is sometimes conceptualized as a space, and sometimes as a resource; sometimes those two are combined into a spatial resource - land. There are two common mental models for...

This paper proposes alternative mental models for wireless communication that are structurally similar to the prevailing spectrum-as-territory metaphor, but that use different referents. It explores several non-spatial metaphors, and then focuses in on trademark as a guiding analogy. In this new...

Spectrum reform initiatives in the US and Europe have identified a need to move away from the traditional command and control approach towards flexible and tradable licences and licence-exemption. Current regulatory initiatives are tending to focus on the flexible licensing route, and there is a...