IEEE Spectrum · 2014 · 76 citations · 0 references
EngineeringElectrical EngineeringReal EstateCommercial Real EstateReal Estate DevelopmentWireless CommunicationsMillimeter-wave CommunicationsMobile CommunicationMobile NetworksSpectrum ManagementSpectrum PolicyWireless NetworksMillimeter-wave PropagationOperatorsRadio Spectrum EngineeringSpectrum EconomicsWireless Spectrum Management
People in real estate joke that there are only three things that matter in the business of buying and selling property: location, location, location. The same could be said for radio spectrum. The frequencies used for cellular communications have acquired the status of waterfront lots-highly coveted and woefully scarce. And like beach-home buyers in a bidding war, mobile operators must constantly jockey for these prime parcels, sometimes shelling out as much as tens of billions of dollars for just a small sliver of the electromagnetic pie.