Spectrum Management Background Wireless communications provide powerful tools for public safety, national security, business development, and entertainment. Essential to wireless communications is the radio frequency spectrum. The radio frequency spectrum is the invisible (to the naked eye) electronic highway that carries radio waves. It is one of the most valuable finite natural resource that must be carefully managed to ensure that it is exploited to the benefit of the people of Antigua and Barbuda. Spectrum management, or radio spectrum management, is the process of providing for efficient use of the radio spectrum and the most important technique for attaining efficiency is controlling interference. Effective management of the spectrum resource is now critical to the success of modern economies. Spectrum Management Techniques Traditionally, spectrum management in Antigua and Barbuda like elsewhere in the world has been viewed as a system of frequency allocations, allotments, and assignments. In this system, the entire range of the useful spectrum is divided (in the frequency dimension) into blocks or bands of frequencies called allocations. These frequency allocations determine the type of use allowed within the block or band of frequencies. There is now unprecedented demand for the use of the spectrum due to the:
desire to transmit a larger quantity and a greater variety of information;
need for more diverse types of communications systems to meet specialized needs;
falling costs and increased functionality of electronic equipment that make radio communications more attractive;
rapid overall changes in the technology and the marketplace;
desire to create competition with incumbent wireline and wireless providers; wider recognition of the potential value of radio licenses (for example, from the publicity surrounding the award of cellular radio licenses);
and pressures to reduce, or at least contain, increases in the costs of administering the process. 14