Noted industry analyst Peter Rysavy is rebutting a Citigroup report that discredited the spectrum crunch.
In a study released today, Rysavy said Citi's analysis is invalid because it is "predicated on the incorrect analysis that 4G technologies have six times more capacity than they really do."
Rysavy said Citigroup's assumptions about the amount of spectrum needed for LTE are also incorrect.
"Citi's analysis of spectrum demand for widespread 4G deployment would only anticipate one-sixth the amount of spectrum than is actually needed for such deployment," he said.
Rysavy's research firm has published 12 public reports containing spectral efficiency analysis since 2002. The most recent report was published by 4G Americas in September of this year.
Citigroup's report, released late last month, claimed that wireless operators and other telecommunications companies weren't using all their spectrum. Specifically, the study found that AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Clearwire, T-Mobile USA and Leap have a combined 230 MHz of unused spectrum.
CTIA disagreed with Citigroup's analysis, saying in a September statement that its members "would not be lining up to spend billions of dollars at auction for the right to use this spectrum if there was not explosive consumer demand for mobile broadband services."