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Gabathuler, David; Sauter, Wolf --- "The allocation of scarce resources, spectrum assignment and competition in mobile communications: the case of UMTS" [2004] ELECD 60; in Buigues, A. Pierre; Rey, Patrick (eds), "The Economics of Antitrust and Regulation in Telecommunications" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004)

Book Title: The Economics of Antitrust and Regulation in Telecommunications

Editor(s): Buigues, A. Pierre; Rey, Patrick

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843765103

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: The allocation of scarce resources, spectrum assignment and competition in mobile communications: the case of UMTS

Author(s): Gabathuler, David; Sauter, Wolf

Number of pages: 24

Extract:

11. The allocation of scarce resources, spectrum
assignment and competition in mobile
communications: the case of UMTS
David Gabathuler and Wolf Sauter*

1. INTRODUCTION
While man-made bottlenecks, such as the fixed local loop or mobile call termination,
currently raise particular challenges in the telecommunications sector, ultimately the scar-
city of a finite natural resource ­ radio frequency spectrum ­ has the potential to become a
determining element in shaping the future competitive landscape of a seamless wireline/
wireless environment. For the mobile communications sector that relies on electromagnetic
spectrum as its bearer medium, the assignment of spectrum1 is already of primary signifi-
cance and continued technological advances are only likely to increase demand pressures.
As a result, ensuring the efficient assignment of spectrum is becoming a political priority.
Until recently the spectrum allocation and assignment process had escaped any significant
degree of harmonization at EU level, and was jealously guarded by the Member States
invoking sovereignty rights. However, the uneven results of the recent 3G/UMTS2 licence
award procedures and the slump in the sector that followed shortly thereafter have placed
both closer co-ordination of spectrum policy and improving the efficiency of frequency
assignment on the political agenda. At the same time, the new EU sector-specific framework
­ in addition to the competition rules ­ seeks to actively promote effective competition in
the use by undertakings of frequencies for communications purposes.
This chapter examines, first, the present and future regulatory framework for frequency
allocation and assignment in the EU, in particular ...