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The aim of this paper is to consider whether it is possible to identify the future spectrum bands most suitable for the Internet of Things (IoT) from the operating factors of a novel set of radio services for a very wide range of applications, as an aid to policy makers now facing decisions in this area.

The approach uses characteristics of spectrum bands against the applications’ requirements to focus on specific major traits that can be matched.

The main choice factors for spectrum are the practical application needs and the network cost model, and these are fairly useful as matching parameters. It is forecast that multiple bands will be needed and that these should be of a licence-exempt form to seed the unfettered innovation of IoT technologies and pre-empt the formation of significant market power by concerned interests.

The way in which spectrum is allocated today will need to be reconsidered, in the light of evolving IoT requirements, which will have increasing economic and social impacts. Policy recommendations for IoT spectrum demands are outlined, and key policy options to ensure a dynamic and trustworthy development of the IoT are put forward. For instance, regulatory barriers globally will need to be removed.

Current interests in the technical requirements of the IoT have not yet given a suitable analysis of the potential spectrum uses, because too often, it is assumed that previous models of spectrum allocation will continue in the future, without consideration of the economic pressures and social context.

Proponents of 5G predict a huge market for 5G goods and services with millions of new jobs being created. The purpose of this paper is to make a realistic assessment of the 5G initiative, with a focus on Europe.

The paper reviews the technical, economic and policy literature to analyse the case for 5G in Europe.

The 5G initiative in Europe, as well as globally, has so far failed to assess objectively the future needs of its customers, whether consumer or business, to articulate a set of sound business cases.

There is little independent assessment of 5G in the academic literature. The paper makes an original contribution through questioning the dominant supply-driven industry perspective.

Tariffs for international mobile roaming (IMR) are often viewed by governments as an additional tax on international trade and on tourism. IMR customer bills may appear to be arbitrary and sometimes excessive. The purpose of this paper is therefore to set out a pragmatic approach to assessing international charges for mobile roaming, making use of a realistic cost model of the international roaming process and its cost elements, at a level that is useful to regulatory authorities and operators.

The discussion presented is based on industry practices for handling voice calls and data sessions with the mobile network operators (MNOs) business model, based on industry sources. The basic mechanisms use two common constructs from business analysis – business processes and use-cases – to provide a simplified form of activity-based costing. This provides a model suitable for national regulatory authorities to move towards cost-based IMR tariffs.

Using a perspective on costs based on a bottom-up survey procedure for elucidating the key information, the paper presents the cost elements for the various IMR network components and business processes, with an approach suitable for analysing both wholesale and retail pricing.

The method is specifically designed to overcome the key problem of such approaches, the limitations set by differences in network technologies, network topology, operational scale and the engineering, as well as MNO business model and accounting practices, which otherwise would preclude the method presented here from being vendor neutral.

Vendor and network engineering neutrality implies the approach can be used to compare different MNOs in terms of the validity of their IMR charges and whether they are cost based.

Impacts on society of so-called “bill-shock” have become quite common, increasingly for data sessions. The cost model presented here was developed with the intention of improving the accountability and transparency of the mobile roaming market. It thus assists in the introduction of cost-based tariffs over an economic region, such the European Union.

The paper examines the practical implications of building large-scale cost models for assessing the real IMR costs, a modelling exercise that has not been seen elsewhere in terms of its approach and neutrality as to MNO structure and assets.

New technologies challenge the traditional view that the radio spectrum must be tightly controlled and the new orthodoxy that a market‐based approach is the most efficient way to manage the spectrum. This article aims to make the case for collective use of the spectrum.

The paper draws on a range of literature, both technical and economic, as well as the authors' opinions to describe the economic context, market and other models for spectrum allocation, technological advances in signal processing, and the way forward for assessing future spectrum management policy, with particular reference to Europe.

Technical advances, from research in the commercial domain and from release of military research, combined with the increasingly important economic need to facilitate innovation in new radio technologies, demand a debate on a new approach to spectrum management policy.

The paper brings together the economic and technical arguments in favour of collective use of the radio spectrum and will be of value to academics, business and policy makers.

Indicates a way forward, using some of the lessons from adjacent technology sectors. Focuses on the current US Department of Justice Anti‐Trust division’s arguments and proposals in the Microsoft case – in particular the analysis of subsequent action in the event of an affirmative ruling on dismemberment. Makes use of Figures for an explanatory aid in the article.

The software industry is rapidly being reformed by the collective development of open, common software – open source software (OSS) – sometimes being free at no charge, but always with the source code revealed for changing, testing and improvement. The purpose here is to examine the role and power of software in the economy and review the economic impacts of the trend to OSS on the software industry, largely from a European industrial and social perspective.

The paper briefly traces the economic significance of the software industry and the dominance in packaged software of the large US publishers, the phenomena of natural monopolies building in software packages, and the need for different industry structure for Europe, as it exhibits a small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) and system integrator structure. It then examines the balancing affects of OSS. The paper also addresses the role that poor software plays in creating new costs or externalities for its users when it fails, contrasting the robustness of open source in defect repair.

The paper finds that the way forward in economic terms for Europe may well be to follow and encourage OSS for reasons of creating a strong software industry and for a counterbalance to current monopolistic trends.

The paper's findings emphasise the need for investment, education and encouragement in OSS, by both the public and private sectors, to build a strong knowledge‐based society in Europe.

The paper introduces the ideas of the basic economic mechanisms of volume sales of software as a good, with analysis of the industry impacts of confluence of the network effect coupled with the law of increasing returns with volume to drive monopolistic positions in the proprietary software package industry.

Overall, public and private interactive networks could be a more powerful force for change than the computer, the railway, or the small electric motor, forming a “teleeconomy”, under a set of rules that form “electronic capitalism”. In this second of two articles (for the first see foresight, Vol 2, No 1, February 2000) consequences of the emerging economic behaviours laid out in the first article are examined. First, the new rules are explored in detail. They describe the dynamo of electronic trading and the characteristics of a specific form of capitalism. The article then considers impacts of the tele‐economy on sectoral balances, economic power and wealth distribution. Lastly, the new players – the electronic tiger – and the safeguards required are examined. The hub of the dynamo will be in the developing economies where some four billion new global consumers await economic enfranchisement via personal investment, as well as access to new consumer markets and electronic work channels.

Looks at how software has attained incredible economic power, but recommends now is the time to break out from the current hold its creators have on the general public. Gives recommendations about “free” software (which means nothing to do with price – mostly freedom of usage), which is an “open source”. Concludes by looking at US and European information hegemony.