Dale N. Hatfield

Toward Property Rights in Spectrum: The Difficult Policy Choices Ahead

As described in Ronald Coases seminal 1959 paper, property-like rights in electromagnetic spectrum and a secondary market for spectrum licenses will allocate spectrum to its highest and best uses, to the benefit of telecommunications consumers. However, defining rights to use spectrum is far more difficult than ordinarily suggested. More careful analysis is needed to determine what type of property regime will operate effectively to govern rights in spectrum. A number of questions must be answered for a transition to a property rights regime to be successful.