• 		Enterprise Infrastructure
  Data Centre Servers and Mainframes Storage and Storage Sub-Systems Operating Systems Systems Management Peripherals Virtualization

• 		Communications Infrastructure
  Network and Management Planning Performance Management and Monitoring Network Devices Unified messaging Carriers and Cellular Wireless LAN

• 		Information Architecture
  Service Oriented Architectures Messaging and Collaboration Databases Data Warehousing Identity Management

• 		Integrating IT
  Development Environments Tools and Languages Project Management Middleware / Utilities Outsourcing and Application Service Providers (ASP)

• 		Departmental and End User Computing
  Personal Systems and Peripherals Personal and Portable Devices Personal and Office Productivity Applications Small-Area Networking (SAN) Help Desk and End-User Support Mobile Applications Future Technology

• 		Enterprise Business Applications
  Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Business Intelligence and Data Mining Enterprise Portals Open Source and Linux Online Retailing and Ecommerce Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Customer Self-Service Supply Chain Management (SCM)

• 		Security
  Security Products, Practices and Infrastructure Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity Hacking and Viruses Alerts, Patches and Fixes Privacy Issues

• 		Voice Data and IP
  Carriers and Service Providers Protocols and Standards Hardware, Software and Emerging Applications Regulatory Issues

• 		IT Workplace
  Human Resources Issues Hiring and Retention Careers and the Job Market Salaries and Benefits Education and Training Consulting and Contracting Knowledge Management Knowledge Worker Tools

• 		Leadership
  Issues for CIOs Budgeting / IT Alignment Value Management and ROI Human Capital Management Best Practices Industry News IT Executive Development

• 		E-Government
  Case Studies and Best Practices From Canada and Internationally Legal and Government Policy Issues Management Issues Privacy and Security

• 		The good the bad and the ugly
  The good The bad and the ugly Useful and fun tips

• 		Green IT
  E-Waste and Recycling Hardware lifecycle management Power and cooling Paper and printers Green thinking

• 		News Briefs
  Breaking News

• Blogs

• Salary Calculator

• IT Executive Development Series

• Video Library

• IT World Canada Technology News Daily ITwire Global Newswatch

• Slide Show Library

• White Papers

• Product Reviews

• Careers

• ITWorld Canada RSS Feeds

Green principles for spectrum licensing

Advertisement

The structure chosen by Industry Canada for the advanced wireless services spectrum auction makes possible a very interesting landscape in the industry, with the chance for smaller operators to buy spectrum to serve local interests. Analysts Iain Grant and Lawrence Surtees discuss this regionality in our front page story, AWS auction applicants announced. (I like alliteration. So sue me.)

But the limitations of the printed page meant that an important and interesting perspective had to be cut out, though it remains in the online version of the story (enter the QuickLink number, 089990, in the box on our home page at itworldcanada.com, or click here.).

Michael Kedar is a Canadian wireless pioneer, company founder, RF expert and entrepreneur. While the debate raged last summer over whether spectrum should be set aside for new entrants, Kedar was a lone voice wondering if we needed to auction 105 MHz of spectrum at all. The U.S., after all, only auctioned off 90 MHz in the 2.4 GHz range; shouldn’t Canada be reserving some spectrum for sensitive applications like health care and financial services?

	Network World Canada
	For more articles on networking and communications technologies, visit Network World Canada

The troika of incumbent carriers is in on the auction, although they’ve got spectrum they’re not using. What they want that spectrum for (certainly they wouldn’t be hoarding?), Kedar argues, is applications like downloading music and video, tasks much more efficiently (and cheaply) accomplished on a home PC and transferred to a mobile device. More competitive wholesaling arrangements would make it unneccessary for regional carriers to buy their own spectrum. We didn’t need to license more spectrum (other than the 40 MHz for new entrants to apply some competitive pressure); we need more efficient use of the spectrum that’s already licensed.

It’s an interesting take. And it’s timely. I can’t check my inbox these days without some vendor or other spinning a product as “green” or “environmentally friendly.” Spectrum is a resource, too, and maybe we should conserve some.