Conclusion

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The connected populace is demanding more broadband access, wireless service providers are scrambling for more capacity, and wired service providers are seeking new revenue streams. Many are considering the solution that is literally all around them-the airwaves.

While regulators do need to loosen their grip on spectrum, it's an undeniable fact that spectrum is a valuable resource that needs to be managed in order to ensure that radio services are able to operate on a non-interference basis. But, when you look at spectrum and Wi-Fi, there is another undeniable fact-for Wi-Fi to continue its amazing growth pattern, it needs more spectrum than what has (currently) been made available.

Exclusive licensing may have been the only approach to managing spectrum in the 20th century. But with today's technical community offering solutions that are smart enough to distinguish between signals, allowing users to share the airwaves without the need for restrictive licensing, a change in policy is needed. By making more efficient use of the available spectrum, the capacity constraints that could curtail Wi-Fi's race to prominence can effectively be removed. This requires that instead of treating spectrum as a scarce physical resource, regulators must allow for methods to be put in place to "stretch" its capacity. This will, in turn, pave the way for open spectrum. Then at least a reasonable amount of unlicensed spectrum can be made available to all as a commons, or unlicensed park, and non-intrusive overlay techniques can be used wherein new radio services can co-exist with traditional licensed services in the same frequency band.

Such changes would almost certainly result in the development of new applications and services and at the same time reduce prices, foster competition, and create business opportunities.

If the Wi-Fi industry can reclaim even just a small amount of spectrum from its legacy owners, there will be more room for innovators to build more wireless networks. Achieving a completely open spectrum regime will take years, or even decades, but that is all the more reason to begin the transition now.

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