Introduction

In most countries a great deal of spectrum – roughly half – is used within the public sector. This applies both to all bands taken together and to the highest-value spectrum in the 300 MHz to 3 GHz range. The uses include applications for aviation and maritime transport, communications, radar, and science. Most of the spectrum use is defense-related.

The pattern of use across countries is not very sensitive to geographical location and income per head, so a similar division can be expected everywhere. It is also common for defense-related spectrum to account for more than half of public-sector spectrum use. Figure 12-1 shows the breakdown between commercial and public use of spectrum in a typical European country.

Historically, defense and, to a lesser extent, other public-sector uses of spectrum had priority over civilian uses. Often public-sector users were not subject to license requirements or to license fees in the same way as commercial users. In periods of spectrum plenty (i.e. before the recent growth of spectrum demand for communications services), the public sector was normally given generous assignments.

In the UK a study monitoring spectrum use found low levels of use of some public spectrum, including in the 1.0–1.8 GHz range, as contrasted with high levels of use in mobile bands – for example 900, 1800, 2300 MHz.

This says nothing about the value of such use. However, the observation both of low usage levels and of the lack of incentive for efficient use of public-sector spectrum which is described below does at least raise questions for further investigation.

This chapter draws heavily upon the broader analysis we have undertaken in previous chapters, notably of spectrum scarcity and its consequences (Chapter 3), of spectrum pricing and valuation (Chapter 7), and of spectrum sharing (Chapter 8). First we discuss how special attributes of the public sector affect spectrum use and spectrum management. Then we review a set of possible means to improve efficiency of spectrum use there.