Technology to the Rescue

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Most industry experts are of the opinion that new technologies make the current system of spectrum allotment, allocation, assignment and management obsolete. Early receivers and transmission schemes were such that interference between competing services within the same frequency band was a common problem. However, the development and implementation of new technologies (e.g. spread spectrum and digital radio technology) allows for the use of sophisticated receiver and transmission schemes, enabling multiple signals to be transmitted at the same frequency, interference-free.

In a world of exclusive spectrum, the development of digital radio technology could be stunted. As long as a license is required to transmit, there is no incentive for innovators to design creative ways for radio transmitters to coexist.

But look at what happened when governmental agencies set aside small spectrum bands (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) for unlicensed uses. Though initially employed for consumer electronics and industrial applications, these bands have proven to be a fertile ground for new services. Despite the limited bandwidth and other restrictions that hamstring services using these unlicensed bands, new industries (e.g. cordless phones and WLANs) have flourished in this shared unlicensed spectrum. In fact, it's the success of Wi-Fi-enabled WLANs that has spawned the growing interest in unlicensed spectrum.

Still, the current swirl of excitement surrounding Wi-Fi is nothing compared to what might occur if significant swaths of spectrum were opened up for use as a commons. "We could have the greatest wave of innovation since the Internet if we could unlock the spectrum to explore the new possibilities," says David Reed, one of the early architects of the Internet. Other high-profile proponents of this concept include Paul Baran, the inventor of packet switching; cyber-law expert Lawrence Lessig; and futurist George Gilder.

The technological innovations that have occurred in both hardware and software (e.g. smart receivers, picocell designs, new antenna technology, and even quantum communications) should make it practicable to loosen the regulators' steel grip on spectrum, allowing bandwidth to become cheaper and ubiquitous. By using these technological marvels, instead of expensive networks, numerous wireless services could coexist in the same frequency bands. Such methods can serve to accommodate vast numbers of users-forcing a rethinking of the traditional view of the radio spectrum as a scarce resource.

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