Frequency Spectrum is the blood of any wireless communication network since it enables communication between users. As all resources in the nature, spectrum resources are also limited. In this post, frequency spectrum or spectrum or bandwidth are used interchangeably to refer to the resource that network operators use. In US and the rest of the World, spectrum is held by
telecommunication service operators who pay billions of dollars for the acquisition of it. Governments and/or private spectrum holders sell the spectrum through auctions. Each operator who wants to buy the spectrum bids for it. The rule is that the winner is the highest bidder. Auction might really increase the dollar amount paid for the spectrum since some operators might bid for specific spectrum bands desperately.
Most of the available spectrum has been auctioned for 3G and 4G networks and almost no spectrum is available today to auction. Increasing demand for the mobile data has motivated service operators to find alternative ways to increase their spectrum holdings. One way to increase the amount of spectrum is to rent some fixed and/or dynamic amount of spectrum from other
service providers. This is an important first step to create the spectrum cloud. This cloud is used by service providers based on demand. In other words, if, as service provider, I need more spectrum to provide more capacity at some locations and/or for certain duration of time, I should able to rent the spectrum from the spectrum cloud by paying for it. !
