Spectrum Sharing in the Shadow of Uncertainty: Risk, Incentives and Investment

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Sharing of spectrum among government and/or commercial entities has the potential to unleash large amounts of spectrum to meet the dramatic increase in demand for mobile broadband services. Although there has been substantial work on developing technologies for such sharing, the adoption of extensive sharing by commercial service providers is by no means a forgone conclusion. This project is addressing three fundamental issues that need to be resolved in order for spectrum sharing to realize its potential.The first issue is concerned with developing models and techniques for mitigating the risks associated with secondary spectrum sharing. Such risks arise, for example, due to uncertainty in a primary user?s activity. The impact of both different technologies (e.g., more flexible devices) and different contractual arrangements (e.g., the possibility of offering "spectrum insurance") on such risks are being studied.The second issue is addressing how different spectrum agreements and associated risk may affect competition and strategic behavior among service providers. That affects their decisions to invest in both infrastructure and develop new spectrum sharing technologies.The final issue is understanding how to balance the benefits of using spectrum to provide a public good, such as defense, against its use to provide commercial broadband access. Identifying associated incentive issues and transaction costs with each type of service can lead to better sharing mechanisms that produce efficient outcomes.