When I was at the FCC, one of its stated policy goals was to ensure that radio spectrum was put to its “highest use”. It now appears that one carrier is going to do precisely that, albeit not in the United States. According to a report by Reuters, Nepal Telecom plans to extend its mobile network coverage to the summit of Mount Everest in the Himalayas. This network will allow climbers upto the 29,035 foot summit to have access to terrestrial-based communications, without having to rely on expensive satellite phones. This use of spectrum is an even higher use than the unlicensed spectrum employed at the Wi-Fi hotspot which China Mobile built at the Mount Everest base camp. That’s only at 17,000 feet above sea level.
Insight: I am not sure that this is the meaning of ‘highest’ the FCC intended when it chose the term. Perhaps what was meant was ‘highest value use’. However, adding that one little word opens a messy intellectual can of worms. Does this mean highest monetary value use or highest social value use? Monetary value is easy to determine. Just look at who is willing to spend the most money to use the spectrum. Social value is much harder to determine. If we forgo social value for a monetary determination, we might have to give up such intangibles as public safety and national defense. Good thing the policy goal has since been restated to promoting the “efficient and effective use of non-federal spectrum”.
Tags: FCC, spectrum policy
[...] been used starting in New Zealand in 1994 to award spectrum licenses to those who have the highest monetary value. Spectrum auctions have generally been highly effective, with the occasional [...]