Streamlining 5G Spectrum Leasing

Abstract

The growing demand for wireless communications drives the development of new networking technologies, but also makes efficient usage of the limited frequency spectrum increasingly important. Leasing unused spectrum on a short-term basis would help increase utilisation, but the complicated lease negotiations usually make it financially unviable. To address this, the whole leasing process including the negotiations needs to be streamlined. This paper proposes an automated spectrum marketplace for leasing that allows frequency bands to be put for anonymous auction between qualified (sub)leasers. The solution utilizes decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials for the entities’ privacy and distributed ledgers for automation and auditing of contract agreements. The prototype implementation demonstrates that the solution significantly streamlines the spectrum leasing process compared to the existing solution.