Shared spectrum is a pipe dream

[Commentary] Professor Kevin Werbach argued that given the explosive demand for wireless service, coupled with the rarity of the spectrum resource, the United States should abandon its highly successful policy of clearing and auctioning spectrum in favor of a communal “shared-spectrum” model. Unfortunately for Professor Werbach, however, his call for the wholesale shift to spectrum sharing ignores the technology, the economics, and even the politics of spectrum management.

[Dr George Ford is the chief economist of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies]