@ CTIA: ‘Goldilocks' spectrum draws closer to market

ORLANDO, Fla. – The model used to bring white-spaces spectrum to market could be applied to licensed frequencies to free up bits of spectrum in geographic areas where it is being under-used today, according to two executives taking part in the white-spaces initiative.
After beginning the white-spaces spectrum initiative in 2004, the Federal Communications Commission freed up the spectrum last year. White-spaces spectrum had been given to TV broadcasters in markets in the 1930s and some of it is under-utilized today. Jeff Schmidt, director of engineering at Spectrum Bridge Inc., calls the spectrum “Goldilocks” spectrum because it’s just right.
However, the trick with white-spaces spectrum is that it is used – and thereby only available – on a market-by-market basis. In some urban markets there is little white-spaces spectrum, while there may be a lot of it in smaller markets, said Rick Rotondo, VP of marketing at xG Technology Inc.
There is no commercial white-spaces spectrum on the market today, Schmidt said. The FCC is beginning the certification process for equipment that uses the spectrum now, and the ecosystem still needs to be developed. Discovering that the spectrum can be used, freeing it up, making it available to others and developing a certification process, among other things, are not routine matters for the commission, Rotondo added.
In the meantime, Spectrum Bridge has shown through experimental licenses that white-spaces spectrum can deliver broadband access over wide areas, effectively showing the spectrum can be used for commercial applications like smart cities and smart grids.
For its part, xG is demonstrating that “junk” spectrum can be put to use through its carrier-class cognitive radios. Both of these efforts could drive not only the white-spaces initiatives, but pave the way to free up smaller blocks of spectrum, and not causing interference to other licensed users, thus bringing more spectrum to market.
Spectrum is a limited resource, Rotondo commented. “There certainly are better ways to use what we have.”
It’s not the only solution to the spectrum crunch, but it can help alleviate bandwidth constraints, Schmidt added