ABSTRACT
Public sector spectrum refers to the use of the airwaves by the military, the maritime sector, aeronautical services, the emergency s ervices and other governmental bodies. Perhaps surprisingly, about half of the spectrum below 6 GHz is typically reserved for the public sector.*
There is great interest in releasing more of this spectrum for commercial services, but the application of liberalised principles to this sector is particularly difficult. For public sector users, the stakes are far higher than in the commercial sector. For air traffic controllers or police officers, unreliable wireless communication may be literally a matter of life and death; in the commercial sector it is more likely to mean an annoying dropped call which can be redialled a few moments later.
