For example, broadcast stations and public safety organizations have dedicated full-time frequencies.
Similarly, cellular carriers also have dedicated full-time frequencies that they assign to individual users for the duration of a call.
It is based on interruptible concepts in other public utilities, mainly the electric power industry, where the commodity is made available at a low price provided that it can be preempted under stated circumstances by other users.
The application of this concept to spectrum was first proposed in a conference paper by Federal Communications Commission(FCC) staffers Mark Bykowsky and Michael Marcus in 2002.
In its August 2007 Docket 06-229 decision, FCC voted to implement the 700 MHz Public/Private Partnership, an implementation of interruptible spectrum concepts in the 700 MHz band subject to a minimum bid of $1.4 billion in the band auction.