Spectrum Bridge launches online marketplace
Spectrum Bridge this week announced the launch of SpecEx, a new online marketplace that is designed to allow real-time buying and selling of licensed spectrum, as well as provide a place for potential spectrum buyers to make requests for the frequencies they want.
Spectrum assets—from 200 MHz to 39 GHz—valued at $250 million are available on the SpecEx web site, www.specex.com, for purchase or lease in a variety of configurations, from nationwide PCS licenses to point-to-point microwave links, said Rick Rotondo, vice president of marketing for Spectrum Bridge.
“We’ve built some very sophisticated software that allows spectrum holders to partition their spectrum geographically, disaggregate by frequency, set up timeshare leases, all of those things,” Rotondo said during an interview with Urgent Communications.
“And those tools are actually RF aware—they understand things like interference, adjacent channels, and it keeps spectrum holders from doing anything that will disappoint their buyers. It puts in the right buffer zone and guard bands and all those things that need to be there when the spectrum is listed on our site.”
Meanwhile, Spectrum Bridge also has taken steps to ensure spectrum sellers that buyers expressing interest in their airwaves are, Rotondo said.
“When you want to bid on spectrum, we require a 10% deposit to cover a bid. That way, we know you’re serious, and people aren’t just out there bidding and gaming the system,” he said. “If you win, it’s a legal contract and you have to do it. We figure the 10% [deposit] will keep out the riff-raff; we want people who are really serious to do this.”
In addition to providing a venue for spectrum to be listed and sold, SpecEx also includes an area where potential spectrum buyers can make requests for airwaves, possibly sparking an idea for a deal that was not considered before, Rotondo said.
Although other entities have taken step to create an online, secondary marketplace for spectrum in the past, Spectrum Bridge is the first to do so and provide an inventory of spectrum, Rotondo said. Eventually, Spectrum Bridge officials are hopeful that SpecEx will become to spectrum what MLS listings have become to the housing market, he said.
“Our online marketplace solves many problems people face when trying to buy, sell and lease spectrum on the secondary market,” Richard Licursi, CEO and co-founder of Spectrum Bridge, said in a prepared statement. “This market is seeing a huge increase in activity, now that there is less and less available directly from the FCC. Our initial listings valued at $250 million are just the tip of the $210 billion U.S. spectrum-market iceberg.”
