In the traditional administrative approach to assignment and authorization system, spectrum is first allocated specified uses and then assigned to particular firms or public organisations that carry out the authorized use according to specific obligations as are laid down in a licence or permit.
Secondary trading of spectrum, or simply ‘Spectrum Trading,’ permits the purchaser to change the use to which the spectrum was initially put while maintaining the right to use.
Spectrum trading, viewed by many as the key step to be taken in the reform of spectrum management regulatory practice, is capable of unlocking the potential of new technologies and eliminating artificial scarcities of spectrum which find expression in inflated prices for spectrum-using services.