This statement presents our decision to make the necessary regulations (the Regulations) that will come into force on 12 December 2011 and are designed to provide for the grant of Recognised Spectrum Access (RSA) to Receive Only Earth Stations (ROES) in specific bands.
It addresses the issues raised by stakeholders in response to the Statutory Notice ("the Notice") Ofcom published in May 2011 and explains that we have decided to make the Regulations as proposed.
The Regulations consist of:
- The Wireless Telegraphy (Recognised Spectrum Access for Satellite Receive-Only Earth Stations) Regulations 2011;
- The Wireless Telegraphy (Limitation of Number of Grants of Recognised Spectrum Access for Satellite Receive-Only Earth Stations) Order 2011;
- The Wireless Telegraphy (Recognised Spectrum Access Charges) (Amendment) Regulations 2011;
- The Wireless Telegraphy (Recognised Spectrum Access and Licence) (Spectrum Trading) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011;
- The Wireless Telegraphy (Register) (Amendment) (No.3) Regulations 2011.
The Regulations provide for::
- the circumstances of use of grants of RSA for ROES;
- the criteria to be applied when considering a grant of RSA for ROES;
- the appropriate fee for a grant of RSA for ROES at a specific site;
- trading of a grant of RSA for ROES;
- publication of the location and required protection level of a grant for RSA for ROES in the WT Register
They will come into force on 12 December 2011. Further copies of the Regulations can be obtained through the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI).
The Regulations make changes that reflect Ofcom's previous decision to introduce RSA for Radio Astronomy in 2007 and our conclusions (published along with the notice in May 2011) from the consultation on RSA for ROES held in July 2010 (the July 2010 consultation), whereby application for a grant of RSA remains voluntary.
Before deciding to make the Regulations, in accordance with the requirements of section 122(4) of the WT Act, we published a Statutory Notice (the "Notice")1 on 11 May 2011. This contained a draft of the Regulations (the "Proposed Regulations") and invited comments from stakeholders on whether the Proposed Regulations properly gave effect to the policy decisions on the implementation of RSA for ROES that Ofcom had made, and which were detailed in an accompanying statement on the results of the original consultation of July 2010.
We received three responses to the Notice, one of which was accompanied by a confidential annex. Having considered these responses, and for the reasons set out below, we have decided to adopt the Regulations as proposed (subject to some minor editorial amendments, the details of which can be found in section 3 below).