Right-Sizing helps optimize the value of spectrum for both buyers and sellers.

The current secondary market for spectrum has been limited to what can best be described as "wholesale transactions".  Wholesale transactions are ones where entire licenses are sold or leased.  This has disadvantages for both buyers and sellers. In many cases, buyers on the secondary market have had to acquire more spectrum than they really need. This drives down the transaction price ($/MHz*Pop) and diminishes the market value of the entire spectrum asset.

However, Spectrum Bridge’ SpecEx platform makes it easy to move beyond the wholesale mentality and create “right-sized” spectrum offerings that create more flexibility and affordability to buyers, while creating higher ROI for sellers.

There are several ways that spectrum can be broken up to create right-size offerings.  Specifically, the FCC allows spectrum licenses to be “partitioned, “disaggregated” and “time shared”.

 Partitioning:

Partitioning allows spectrum holders to break up primary licenses into smaller geographic footprints.  This makes it easier for buyers to buy or lease the right amount of spectrum coverage to fit their needs.  Buy creating a more customized product to fit the needs of a particular market or application, spectrum holders can realize higher $/MHz*Pop, while offering a better value to prospective buyers.

Disaggregation:

Disaggregation lets spectrum holders divide up a licenses by channel, channel group or by frequency & bandwidth.  The illustration above show how four channels or frequencies can be disaggregated into three parts. The FCC now allows spectrum to be offered in any amount - down to the size of an individual channel or a few Hertz if no channel plan is specified within the band. This puts idle capacity to work and is another way of right-sizing spectrum for interested buyers.

Time Sharing:

A new concept promoted by the FCC can best be described as time sharing of spectrum.  Time sharing now allows the creation of  time-of-day, day of the week, etc. leases for buyers who may have a need for a limited duration of time  (on-peak or off-peak).  Utility meter reading, overnight inventory updates, next day dispatch assignments, etc. can all be operated on a time shared basis. With time sharing, a single spectrum license can be used  by multiple  parties - each day.