مقاله سال ۲۰۱۷

Radio spectrum is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum from 8.3 kHz to 3000 GHz allocated to 40 Radio communication services in line to the Radio Regulations (RR) of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) [1]. It is an essential input to all wireless services, with major contribution to economic and social development. These spectrum-based services includes mobile communications (such as cell phones and mobile broadband), fixed communications (such as broadcasting and wireless data links), and detection applications (such as radar) [2]. It is a natural, renewable and often scarce resource (especially below 1 GHz), which means its offer is limited [3]. Since radio spectrum is scarce the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) have to assign this resource wisely; in the most cases∗ NRAs represent the supply-side of radio spectrum market. With the constant rapid growth of mobile communications services such as wireless data services and increasing data consumption radio spectrum becomes more and more valuable. Spectrum is no longer associated with abstract technology but is more and more regarded as a valuable resource in our information society [4].

Appropriate spectrum values and price helps to promote spectrum efficiency. Market reveals the price of spectrum in the process of awarding the licenses to service providers. Price emerges through an authentic market transaction such as an auction or secondary trading. One of the most used approaches which can help examine the value of spectrum is benchmark. But is it a good indicator of spectrum market price?

In the present paper we shall attempt to analyze the results of more than 280 spectrum auctions, including bands suitable for 3G and 4G wireless services, to find out how benchmark can help to determine the market price of spectrum.