Spectrum policy in practice: inclusion, competition, and resilience

Spectrum policy in practice: inclusion, competition, and resilience

Posted on December 17, 2025 Digital 3 min read Share: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn

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Spectrum policy in practice: inclusion, competition, and resilience - Digital

Spectrum management is a critical yet often overlooked aspect of connectivity - it plays a central role in how people access the internet. Following the 2025 Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSA) Global Summit, ARTICLE 19's Raquel Rennó Nunes once again sat down with Martha Suárez, President of the DSA to discuss practical aspects and real-world impact of spectrum governance, as regulators confront increasingly complex technological, economic, and social trade-offs.

Our first interview with Martha Suárez focused on spectrum policy and human rights, exploring the foundational links between spectrum governance and people's ability to access meaningful connectivity - themes also explored in our recent report The Missing Link.

The follow up interview draws on her reflections from the 2025 DSA Global Summit, which brought together regulators, industry, researchers, and practitioners from across regions to focus on the real-world impacts of spectrum policy decisions. As Suárez explains, the Summit was designed not only as a forum for technical exchange, but as a space to bridge regulatory perspectives with lived deployment experiences: from community networks and wireless internet service providers to universities, hospitals, ports, and large public venues.

A central theme emerging from the discussion is that spectrum policy is never neutral. Decisions on allocation, licensing models, and sharing frameworks directly shape market diversity, affordability, technological choice, and ultimately who can meaningfully access connectivity. Suárez highlights how approaches such as dynamic spectrum access, light licensing, and unlicensed use have enabled new actors, including local communities and public institutions, to deploy networks where traditional models have failed to deliver.

Our interview also addresses recurring policy tensions, including concerns that unlicensed or shared spectrum might undermine investment. Drawing on evidence presented at the Summit, Suárez challenges this narrative, pointing instead to uneven deployment patterns, under-utilised licensed bands, and the demonstrable success of Wi-Fi-based ecosystems, particularly in the 6 GHz band, as drivers of both innovation and inclusion.

These insights are especially relevant as regulators worldwide continue to debate the future balance between International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT) allocations and spectrum made available for open access/non-exclusive licenses.

Beyond connectivity and competition, the conversation expands to issues of resilience and sustainability, discussing how flexible spectrum frameworks can support more resilient, efficient, and environmentally conscious network architectures, particularly in indoor and localised deployment scenarios.

Finally, Suárez underscores a critical regulatory challenge: timing. Spectrum decisions are not only about choosing the 'right' framework, but about recognising the opportunity costs of delay. As markets, devices, and user practices evolve rapidly, postponing decisions can entrench exclusion and slow the benefits of already-mature technologies.

Recordings of the 2025 Global Summit sessions, along with presentations referenced in this interview, are publicly available on the DSA event webpage, allowing readers to engage directly with the debates and case studies discussed.