Shared or exclusive radio waves? A dilemma gone astray

Ever increasing demand for commercial wireless applications has forced a rethink of radio wave coordination arrangements. Attempts to reform prescriptive centralised approaches have targeted a model of exclusive usage rights through ownership and markets, and a regime of shared usage through free access and collaborative platforms. Both have been quite successful. However, the diametrically opposed ideological nature of these two alternatives has also polarised the reform movement. Multidisciplinary approaches and the purely conceptual nature of existing policy research have only exacerbated these differences. I argue here that this policy dilemma has erred. At a conceptual level, the focus on two reform regimes mischaracterises the true set of policy choices. At a practical level, the emphasis on extreme views of these two regimes is an inaccurate depiction of actual policy reforms. Furthermore, the implied incompatibility between the two reform regimes belies their complementary nature.