Spectrum Scarcity-The Problem

Spectrum Scarcity-The Problem
Much of the Commission's spectrum policy was driven by the assumption that there is never enough for
those who want it. Under this view, spectrum is so scarce that government forces rather than market
forces must determine who gets to use the spectrum and for what. The spectrum scarcity argument
shaped the Supreme Court's Red Lion decision, which gave the Commission broad discretion to regulate
broadcast media on the premise that spectrum is a unique and scarce resource. Indeed, most
assumptions that underlie the current spectrum model derive from traditional radio broadcasting and have
nothing to do with wireless broadband Internet applications.
The Commission has recently conducted a series of tests to assess the actual spectrum congestion in
certain locales. These tests, which were conducted by the Commission's Enforcement Bureau in
cooperation with the Task Force, measured use of the spectrum at five major U.S. cities. The results
showed that although some bands were heavily used, others either were not used or were used only part
of the time. It appeared that these holes in bandwidth or time could be used to provide significant
increases in communication capacity through the use of new technologies, without impacting current
users. These results call into question the traditional assumptions about congestion. It appears that most
spectrum is not in use most of the time.
Today's digital migration means that more data can be transmitted in less bandwidth. Not only is less
bandwidth used, but innovative technologies like software-defined radio and adaptive transmitters can
also bring additional spectrum into the pool of spectrum available for use.