In fact, Ofcom now says that “no Wireless Telegraphy Act spectrum license is exclusive.”
“We have discretion to authorize multiple uses of licensed frequencies, for any purpose, in line with our statutory duties,” Ofcom says. “It is therefore not necessary to change existing licences for us to have the option to introduce additional uses if it is in line with our statutory duties.”
At the same time, Ofcom also says when it evaluates sharing it will be “taking account of the incremental impact of sharing on incumbents, and the benefits that incumbent services deliver to citizens and consumers. This includes incumbents’ incentives to innovate and invest.”
On the other hand, Ofcom also says “we would not expect this to lead to wide-ranging changes across license categories.”
“For new license awards, we may consider a form of sharing that exploits potential gaps that main users may leave, if the circumstances justify it,” Ofcom says. That would seem to imply either primary and secondary rights in common frequency bands, or frequency division of some sort.
Concretely, Ofcom says it is looking at part of C-band (3.8-4.2GHz) as a frequency range where sharing could be enabled.
Significantly, Ofcom says that “when using the framework for specific opportunities we will review costs carefully and the proportionality of any sharing arrangement.” In other words, policy will include efforts to compensate license holders for the cost of allowing sharing of their licensed spectrum, and lessen burdens on new users who want to share spectrum.
Ofcom suggests that sharing will be used, in the future, to expand efficiency, across unlicensed and licensed bands.
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