3.1.1 Technical and productive versus allocative efficiency

Some of the submissions recognised the discussion document’s distinction between spectrum management aiming for technical efficiency (for instance by encouraging existing users to upgrade to better equipment in order to utilise less spectrum to deliver the same service) and allocative efficiency (encouraging utilisation of spectrum for the end uses most highly valued by consumers). These submissions tended to support aiming for technical efficiency over economic, suggesting that the RLR is better suited to facilitating particular uses that occupy the minimum necessary amount of spectrum through rigorous engineering, rather than encouraging particular end uses or economic outcomes – especially where there is no scarcity and therefore negligible opportunity cost associated with deploying equipment to specific frequencies.