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Efficient Allocation of Radio Spectrum
Author(s) -
FREYENS BENOÎT PIERRE,
JONES CHRIS
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of public economic theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.809
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1467-9779
pISSN - 1097-3923
DOI - 10.1111/jpet.12045
Subject(s) - stylized fact , frequency allocation , legislature , corporate governance , bandwidth allocation , spectrum management , telecommunications , bandwidth (computing) , economics , simple (philosophy) , industrial organization , business , microeconomics , computer science , wireless , cognitive radio , macroeconomics , finance , political science , philosophy , epistemology , law
Legislative reforms in Anglo‐American countries require governments to account for efficient spectrum usage subject to interference control. New spectrum governance regimes promote flexible and competitive usage but the broadcasting industry remains exempt from reforms, at a significant cost to society. The need to liberalize broadcast spectrum cannot be overstated, but how should we select among alternative deregulatory regimes? In a simple stylized model we formalize the welfare effects of allocating licenses for using bandwidth on broadcast spectrum. We provide optimality conditions for entry, spectrum usage, and congestion levels under different market conditions, which allows us to justify the selection of specific governance arrangements.