Pricing spectrum access in cellular CDMA networks with heterogeneous demand

We consider pricing secondary access to wireless spectrum in cellular CDMA networks. We study the case for a primary license holder interested in leasing the right of providing service in a given geographical region of its coverage network. The goal is to price access to the cells in that region under heterogeneous call traffic demand with the objective of profit maximization. While a revenue is gained from the leased region due to the exercised price, the primary license holder incurs a loss due to reduced spatial coverage of the network and also due to interference effect from the leased into the retained region. We exploit the spatial effect of interference due to geographical locations of the cells and set a price per cell rather than pricing the whole region by a scalar quantity. We employ reduced load approximations which have proved useful in classical telephony and characterize optimal prices for different pricing philosophies, e.g., flat pricing and demand-based pricing. The obtained formula of prices suggests charging per admitted call in proportion with the interference that the call generates. The charged amount balances the corresponding loss of revenue due to the influence of an admitted call. We present an iterative price computing technique and provide a numerical study in support of our analytical results.