Principles of Spectrum Sharing: A Case Study of the Lower 12 GHz Band

Today, the ubiquity of mobile devices and the ever-growing demand for mobile data (and wireless services more broadly) make radio spectrum an increasingly important public resource. According to industry estimates, mobile data demand is projected to grow by a cumulative annual growth rate of 26% in the United States, and by 2027, 5G penetration is projected to be at 90%. Concurrently, clearing spectrum from incumbents and granting a full set of property rights to new users (i.e., an exclusive license) is becoming more difficult – in essence, the low hanging fruits for reallocation have already been harvested. Although in the past exclusive licensing has been the cornerstone of terrestrial mobile networks and a key element in their success, in the current context, there may be instances when spectrum sharing will be an important tool for transferring spectrum from lower valued to higher valued uses. In this paper we investigate the 12.2 GHz – 12.7 GHz band and assess what the FCC must have believed the value of shared (non-terrestrial mobile) use to be.