Value-focused thinking about strategic management of radio spectrum for mobile communications in Korea

Abstract

Radio spectrum has become an increasingly vital part of the telecommunications infrastructure and economy of a country. As spectrum management grapples with increasingly complex decisions in the 1990s, clarifying the basic values of the spectrum management will become more important. This study uses multiattribute utility theory as a basis for obtaining value judgments regarding strategic management of radio spectrum for mobile communications and applies it to a specific case study of Korea. To structure and quantify the basic values of spectrum management, we elicited strategic objectives, then refined and structured them into a hierarchy. We developed attributes and derived a utility function to illustrate value trade-offs at the strategic level. The implications of the results for addressing a range of strategic issues are also discussed. We found that the work and results can provide valuable insights and decision opportunities for virtually all major decision making in spectrum management for mobile communications in Korea.