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	<title>Communications Insights: Trends and Cool Stuff &#187; spectrum policy</title>
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	<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff</link>
	<description>The Musings of an Expatriate in European Communications</description>
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		<title>Spectrum Auctions in Japan?!</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/09/spectrum-auctions-in-japan/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/09/spectrum-auctions-in-japan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Sep 2010 19:48:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[next generation spectrum policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policy Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spectrum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/?p=212</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Japanese wireless market is well developed, with at least 5 competitors offering some of the lowest priced, highest speed, and most advanced networks of anywhere in the world. Yet, according modern economic theory, this should not be. The Japanese government has never held an auction to assign spectrum licenses. Economic theory suggests that auctions are more efficient assigning spectrum rights to their highest monetary value use than other means such as comparative hearings (currently used in Japan) or lotteries. That may all, change as the government of Japan is considering how it might employ spectrum auctions. The Cabinet might be directing the Ministry of Information and Communications to review how market forces can be employed to rapidly and efficiently reassign radio usage rights. According to my vague understanding of what is suggested, the MIC will pursue a limited use of auctions to reassign spectrum licenses. Auction prices will be limited to the costs of relocating the existing users from the band. The MIC will then auction participant’s bids as part of its analysis in some sort of comparative hearing. License winners will have to pay their bid eventually. I am not sure whether auctions will make the Japanese wireless market more advanced, or whether they will simply screw things up. I will keep you posted.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Report from ITS</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/07/report-from-its/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/07/report-from-its/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:40:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cool Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ITS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RCS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/?p=181</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every once and a while, one comes across something so trivial yet so flattering.  I was fortunate enough to attend the International Telecommunications Society 18th Biennial meeting in Tokyo last week.  I attended the panel on radio spectrum on the last day of the conference.  Two of the four papers presented on the spectrum panel were derived in some way from research I published in 2009.
 
I have been working in radio communications for nearly a decade.  It was so encouraging for me to see that my recent work is having such an important impact on the direction of current research.  If you work hard enough and long enough, you sometimes you earn bragging rights.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Twenty-Five Years of Unlicensed Spread Spectrum</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/05/twenty-five-years-of-unlicensed-spread-spectrum/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/05/twenty-five-years-of-unlicensed-spread-spectrum/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2010 19:33:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cool Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Optimal Regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FCC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Part 15]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unlicensed wireless devices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wi-Fi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/?p=176</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today, the Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance announced  an enhancement the current suite of 802.11 standards (Wi-Fi) which promises multi-gigabit wireless networking, in the 60 GHz frequency band.  However, I am not sure if the Wi-Fi Alliance or the Wireless Gigabit Alliance realize the auspiciousness of the occasion of their announcement.  The announcement comes twenty-five years and one day after the FCC adopted rules which permitted the operation of spread spectrum systems in the ISM bands (902-928 MHz, 2.4-2.48 GHz and 5.725-5.85 GHz).  This rule change enabled the commercial rise of Wi-Fi, as well as so many other products and technologies take for granted today, such as Bluetooth, cordless phones, and baby monitors.

The FCC took this decision on its own initiative, rather than relying on requests for rule changes from the industries it regulates.  In fact, many of the companies which initially opposed the rule change now earn millions of dollars of revenue from selling products that operate in these bands.  It never ceases to amaze me that a well-made decision can have exponential implications down the line.  Relying on the industry to tell the regulator can be helpful; however, this approach does not always serve the public interest.  In all instances, the regulator should exercise independent judgment.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/05/twenty-five-years-of-unlicensed-spread-spectrum/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Uncommon Unlicensed – A Licensed Commons</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/03/the-uncommon-unlicensed-%e2%80%93-a-licensed-commons/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/03/the-uncommon-unlicensed-%e2%80%93-a-licensed-commons/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:00:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Optimal Regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TV White Spaces]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FCC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kevin Werbach]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Optimal level of regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Part 15]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unlicensed wireless devices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wi-Fi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/?p=139</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is a significant challenge to the successful opening up of the TV white spaces. Under the White Spaces order, any unlicensed device which will operate in the band has to query a database and obtain permission before it can start transmitting.  When a white spaces device has to query a database and obtain permission before it can operate, it is, by definition, no longer an unlicensed device.  Rather, the regime is a licensed commons.  This grant of permission is in fact a form of a license, albeit a light one.  

This fact is one of the reasons the unlicensed PCS was never successful.  For unlicensed PCS, the FCC created a regime under which unlicensed users had to get permission from a non-profit firm called UTAM before they could start using their unlicensed PCS devices.  In doing so, the FCC inadvertently delegated to UTAM the power to grant licenses.  

In order for the White Spaces Order to be successful must offer device manufacturer and device users more benefit than they could achieve by using the existing Part 15 rules.  Device manufacturers can make devices to operate under the less restrictive parts of the Part 15 rules (the U-NII and spread spectrum rules).  So, they never made any successful products for U-PCS.   The same will be true for the White Space rules.  In order for the White Space database system to work, it will have to offer greater flexibility, more power, wider tuning ranges, more suitable frequency bands, etc. than the current Part 15 rules allow.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2010/03/the-uncommon-unlicensed-%e2%80%93-a-licensed-commons/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Next Generation Spectrum Regulation</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/12/next-generation-spectrum-regulation/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/12/next-generation-spectrum-regulation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:03:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cool Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[next generation spectrum policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Optimal level of regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Really Cool Stuff!]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spectrum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unlicensed wireless devices]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/?p=122</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have just completed a major study on next generation spectrum regulation which can serve as the basis for removing certain barriers to spectrum access, allowing more effective sharing and efficient allocations.  I can think of no reason why a properly designed auction could not determine not only who gets the spectrum rights, but what those rights are.

You cannot see, touch, taste, smell, or hear radio spectrum.  Spectrum is not a thing; it is an idea – a legal and engineering construct that explains a physical phenomenon and helps us arrange our behavior accordingly.  That fundamental physical phenomenon is the fact that when electromagnetic waves are: (1) harmonic in frequency; (2) incident in time; and (3) alight on the same reception device, the ability of those waves to be used as information carriers is degraded.  This deleterious effect is known to us as interference.  Without some form of intervention, it is impossible to exclude or limit the use of a common resource such as spectrum. Without exclusion, users consume the spectrum without regard to fact that their usage causes the deleterious effect of interference for other would-be users.  Policies which help to mitigate inference with the least amount of effort will be the most socially beneficial.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/12/next-generation-spectrum-regulation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Japan Communications&#8217; New Business Model</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/10/japan-communications-new-business-model/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/10/japan-communications-new-business-model/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:16:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cool Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Neutrality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Optimal Regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan Communications Inc.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JCI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Optimal level of regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RCS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wholesale Access]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wireles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/?p=117</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Japan Communications Inc. just launched a new product for Hewlett-Packard. HP will now sell netbooks in Japan which come with 100 minutes of mobile wireless connectivity. Consumers can buy connectivity on a pay-as-you-go basis from Japan Communications, but branded as an HP service. While Japan Communications negotiated with DoCoMo to get on its network, it was only able to do so because the Japanese Ministry for Communications and Information created which rules opened the networks of three largest wireless operators to wholesale.

This created for Japan Communications a really cool new business model with implications for carriers, devices manufacturers, and application service providers around the world. It remains to be seen whether the Europe and the US should follow suit.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/10/japan-communications-new-business-model/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Highest use of spectrum</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/05/highest-use-of-spectrum/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/05/highest-use-of-spectrum/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 10:48:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Optimal Regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Proper English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FCC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/?p=73</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I was at the FCC, one of its stated policy goals was to ensure that radio spectrum was put to its &#8220;highest use&#8221;.  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 [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/05/highest-use-of-spectrum/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Some Thumbnail Economics on the DTV Transition</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/02/some-thumbnail-economics-on-the-dtv-transition/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/02/some-thumbnail-economics-on-the-dtv-transition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:39:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[DTV Transition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/?p=65</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week the Senate unanimously voted to delay the up coming US transition to digital television by 4 months. Two days later, the House blocked the measure. The debate over whether to delay the transition stems from the fact that a certain number of households are not able yet to receive digital broadcast television.  According [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2009/02/some-thumbnail-economics-on-the-dtv-transition/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>TV White Spaces and the Tragedy of the Commons</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/07/tv-white-spaces-and-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/07/tv-white-spaces-and-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:34:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cool Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TV White Spaces]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FCC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unlicensed wireless devices]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/07/tv-white-spaces-and-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For more than nine decades, lawyers, engineers, and economists have argued that radio spectrum regulation is needed due to the fact that without some form of intervention, it is impossible to exclude or limit the use of a common resource such as spectrum.  Without exclusion, users consume the spectrum without regard to their usage&#8217;s impact [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/07/tv-white-spaces-and-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Next Generation Spectrum Policy</title>
		<link>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/03/next-generation-spectrum-policy/</link>
		<comments>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/03/next-generation-spectrum-policy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:16:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kenneth Carter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network Neutrality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TV White Spaces]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wireless Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Optimal level of regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Part 15]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policy Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RCS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spectrum policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/03/next-generation-spectrum-policy/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I am very pleased to announce that the FCC has just published a suite of papers which I worked on while I was there. This work sought to tackle some of the intractable problems facing spectrum policy. For nearly a century, spectrum policy has focused on &#8220;scarcity&#8221; and resolving &#8220;harmful interference&#8221;. This was largely due [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/03/next-generation-spectrum-policy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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