If you’re reading this, you’re either already familiar with wireless communications and spectrum regulation, or you’re a relatively inexperienced newcomer looking for more information regarding shared, licensed and unlicensed spectrum.

We hope you found us through Google, but whether you received this link in an email, through social media, or even a text message, you’re using licensed or unlicensed spectrum to connect. But what does that mean?

Learn more about licensed, unlicensed, and shared spectrum allocation models like the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and how we can develop smart, strategic spectrum policy to support future technology and innovation to come.

All the devices we have talk to each other over the airwaves. But there’s a catch: we can’t see the language they’re using. Everything from radios, to cell phones, TVs, tablets, and gaming consoles use electromagnetic waves, also known as spectrum, to relay information over our invisible highways of airwaves.

But, the amount of spectrum we have is finite. We can’t make more lanes or widen the roads for the devices to talk and send important information. We’ve got to work with what we’ve got, so regulators—who are the stewards of our spectrum—create rules of the road to ensure our devices don’t talk over each other, cause crashes or create interference. But not everyone agrees about how we should use spectrum. 

First, how does all of this actually work? Let’s look at how we connect to the internet. It’s more than likely that your device is wirelessly connected to the internet using cellular data, or through a Wi-Fi router. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its counterparts all over the world make rules for spectrum that allow for these different kinds of connections. For some spectrum bands, they award exclusive licenses, and for other bands, they allow for some use without a license, called unlicensed, as long as there’s no interference. 

There are three broad types of ways to use spectrum: licensed, unlicensed, and shared spectrum, which work in tandem to provide connectivity. So how does the FCC  regulate that? The FCC primarily awards spectrum licenses through auctions. When companies buy spectrum at auctions, they get exclusive use of an entire lane of the road. Cell phones typically connect over licensed spectrum, particularly when people are out and not connected to Wi-Fi, and this kind of connectivity covers large geographical areas. 

However, now that there are billions of devices all over the world, it’s not possible for them all to use their own exclusive spectrum, and the good news is that they don’t need to. This is the second way to manage spectrum traffic: by designating certain airwaves or spectrum bands for unlicensed use. With unlicensed spectrum, users don’t buy spectrum, rather, as long as devices follow specific rules, they can access those airwaves. It’s a bit like a busy highway. If all the cars follow the rules of the road, there isn’t any problem. Some of our favorite technologies, like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, follow these rules and run very well over unlicensed airwaves. We’re able to use those technologies and our devices in our homes, schools and offices because Wi-Fi delivers fast speeds at lower costs to users because it’s accessible without the cost of buying a license. What’s more, unlicensed spectrum also reduces congestion on licensed spectrum networks.

Think about how often you use Wi-Fi to text or Zoom, or switch your phone back and forth from cellular to Wi-Fi. Unlicensed spectrum is a playground for innovation, enabling everything from garage door openers and baby monitors, to wireless earbuds and smart watches, and allowing networks to offload cellular data. And then there’s shared spectrum models that combine both licensed and unlicensed users on one highway. There are different ways to do this, but one great example is the CBRS model. Think of it like a three-lane highway, with different rules for each lane based on the kind of traffic: one for the government, one if you have a license and another if you don’t. This sounds complex, but there are databases that make this coordination seamless. Think of those databases like crossing guards directing traffic, ensuring everyone stays in their lane and follows the rules. These models are used to connect everything from private networks to precision agriculture. Innovation and connectivity thrive in our unlicensed and shared bands of spectrum.