Tag: regulation
Spectrum — To License or Not To License
In part one of this series on Spectrum 2.0, I highlighted just how complex radio spectrum management is and why experts can’t seem to agree on whether we are running out of spectrum or entering an age of abundance. ...
Why Can’t Anyone Agree on Spectrum?
Electromagnetic spectrum is the crude oil of last-mile connectivity, especially in Africa where more traditional kinds of last-mile communication infrastructure are not especially well-developed. As in the oil business, anyone who has gained control of spectrum in the last ten...
Television White Spaces Spectrum in Africa
Last week I attended an event in Dakar entitled the TV White Spaces Africa Forum 2013. It was an event organised and largely sponsored by Google in partnership with a number of other organisations including Microsoft, Internet Society Senegal, Afrinic,...
Africa and Television White Spaces
If you google “televisions white spaces”, you’ll see a small storm of news generated last week by the FCC’s finalising the rules for the use of television white spaces spectrum in the U.S. TV white spaces spectrum was first announced...
Use Universal Service Funds to Pay for Civil Society Participation in Telecom Regulation
Telecommunications markets are notoriously difficult to regulate effectively. Telecom operators wield a great deal of power thanks to their wealth and the effectively hold they have on their markets whether through landlines or spectrum licenses and they don’t hesitate to...