Spectrum license assignment

Abstract

Spectrum is a valuable and scarce natural resource. Regulators assign spectrum usage rights to holders mainly by issuing licenses. With gradual introduction of spectrum trading and liberation, problems of tenure and assignment of spectrum licenses have attracted increasing attention. This paper does not only do lots of empirical research on existing license types in countries that have introduced spectrum trading, but also do in-depth study on the new license type- perpetual license that scholars have proposed. Then, it classifies spectrum licenses into unrenewable licenses, renewable licenses and perpetual licenses according to usage duration and renewal expectancy. Finally, both initial and secondary assignment processes of three kinds of spectrum licenses are put forward.