Spectrum Switchover for Commercial use and “Spectrum Procurement” Contest

Abstract

Motivated by the need to implement wireless broadband mobile communications (Long Term Evolution (LTE)) in the "Digital Dividend" band (790-862 MHz) in Russia and to relocate government users of spectrum, especially the Aeronautical Radio Navigation Service (ARNS), this article focuses on the funding of organizational and technical measures to relocate government users from the spectrum and to transfer the spectrum to commercial users. To this end, various spectrum reallocation procedures used worldwide are analyzed. The results show that the existing territorial division of communication services limits the development of new communication technologies in neighboring countries, indicating the need for international harmonization with regard to spectrum management measures. The LTE contest (2012) in Russia could be considered as a hybrid procurement and spectrum contest rather than a standard spectrum contest. The ARNS migration mechanism proposed by the Russian regulator is based on "extensive" spectrum usage and is similar to the logic of the U.S. Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act.