Rivada Networks gets broad patent for dynamic-spectrum-arbitrage technology

By enabling this transformation, DSA “is an absolute, punch-in-the-face game changer. It changes the rules; it changes the dynamic,” Ganley said.

From a commercial perspective, the existence of a DSA-enabled marketplace for bandwidth could alter the choices that carriers consider when contemplating expanding their networks or negotiating a roaming agreement with another carrier, Ganley said.

“Now, you can say, ‘Let’s not build out in this area. We’ll get our bandwidth via DSA; we’re going to be able to name the price that we’re prepared to pay. And if we’re the only [bidder] out there, we know we’re going to get it cheap—cheaper than we could ever build it out for ourselves,’” Ganley said.

More important, dynamic spectrum arbitrage could have a positive impact on technological innovation, because it will allow new players to enter the market and provide offerings that would not be possible in today’s environment, Ganley said.

“Now that we can commoditize bandwidth, we can allow multiple entrants. Think of the new players, the guys in device mode, the Amazons, the Apples, the Samsungs, and they’ll be 22-year-old kids with startups doing stuff with Google Glass, gaming things and stuff that we can’t even imagine now,” he said. “When you lower the barriers to entry, you’re going to see all sorts of innovation.”

While DSA can provide greater opportunities to new entrants, Ganley acknowledges that large incumbents would have significant advantages in this new marketplace if they embraced the concept and leveraged the technology in the best manner possible. However, there is no certainty that large incumbents would opt to alter their current business models to embrace a DSA system, he said.

“Is there an advantage to a carrier that already has critical mass in the market that DSA gives them? The answer to that is categorically, ‘Yes,’” Ganley said. “Are they capable of seeing that and exploiting that?  [That answer is] categorically, ‘Questionable.’ They won’t definitely pile in there because they are slow adopters,” he said. “One will move or maybe two will move, but the hesitation that you see in that kind of adoption advantages new entrants, and new entrants move quickly.”