Wireless Spectrum Market BoomingWireless Spectrum Market Booming

Spectrum Bridge said its online marketplace for fallow wireless spectrum has generated more than $8 million in revenue for the second quarter.

The company's Web site, SpecEx.com, provides a secondary marketplace for radio spectrum that's used by mobile operators, communication companies, first responders, and other businesses. Spectrum Bridge said its inventory of spectrum includes approximately three billion MHz points of presence, and this spans from 40 MHz to 40 GHz.

"From the outset, our vision has been to lead the way in secondary spectrum, so it is particularly rewarding to have achieved this vision so early and in so many ways," said Richard Licursi, CEO of Spectrum Bridge, in a statement. "Our technology and proprietary solutions have enabled this emerging market beyond our expectations."

The company is predicting a strong market for this type of service because the Federal Communication Commission is not expected to have another large spectrum auction for a while because it just had a major one in 2008. AT&T and Verizon Wireless were seen as the big winners of the 700-MHz auction, but the secondary market could be appealing to other carriers, public utility providers, as well as cable companies that are increasingly eying the wireless voice space.

"We are seeing particular demand right now from the utilities, energy, and railways industries, which are looking for spectrum to upgrade their critical infrastructures with smart grid and positive train control applications," said Licursi.

All spectrum sales have to receive approval from the FCC, but the government agency has generally been permissive of spectrum trading in the past.

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