The radio spectrum that governments license to mobile operators is central to the development of mobile broadband services. However, there is significant variation around how much and when spectrum is assigned as well as its costs. We assess whether policies to assign spectrum had an impact on consumer welfare in 64 countries during the 2010–2017 period. We find evidence that policies that reduce the amount of spectrum available to operators, delay the assignment of spectrum and increase the cost of spectrum all impacted two important consumer outcomes - network coverage and quality. The findings have implications for governments and regulators, particularly those betting on 4G and 5G as enablers of economic growth and sustainable development.

政府许可给移动运营商的无线电频谱是移动宽带服务发展的核心。但是，在分配频谱的数量和时间及其成本方面存在显着差异。我们评估了 2010-2017 年间 64 个国家的频谱分配政策是否对消费者福利产生了影响。我们发现有证据表明，减少运营商可用频谱数量、延迟频谱分配和增加频谱成本的政策都会影响两个重要的消费者结果——网络覆盖和质量。调查结果对政府和监管机构具有重要意义，尤其是那些押注 4G 和 5G 作为经济增长和可持续发展推动者的机构。