Economic evaluation of a cognitive radio based solution for increasing capacity of LTE networks

This paper presents an economic evaluation of a cognitive radio based solution using TV white space frequencies to increase the capacity of LTE networks. The evaluation is performed from the viewpoint of a mobile operator who is facing capacity problems in its LTE network and wants to assess if using cognitive radio can be a competitive solution. The assessment is done by comparing the costs of implementing the cognitive radio solution to the costs of acquiring a licence for a block of spectrum where both options provide the same capacity increase.