The treatment of license payments in the national accounts has become increasingly important in recent years; with mobile phone licenses being auctioned for substantial values in several countries. Because the text of the System of National Accounts 1993 does not provide specific guidance on...

This paper addresses the question of how to record mobile phone license payments in the national accounts. It concludes that there are usually two assets involved with mobile phone licenses: the spectrum, which is owned by the government, and the license, which is an intangible non-produced...