Ofcom’s initial consultation on proposals to revise its fees for using maritime and aeronautical radio spectrum closed on 30 October 2008. The purpose of this note is to give stakeholders further information about the next steps that Ofcom is planning to take.
At present, Ofcom is continuing to consider carefully the responses received from stakeholders. We are also considering a number of issues in more detail, working closely with consultants with expertise in the maritime and aeronautical sectors, and we will be discussing these issues with the Civil Aviation Authority and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
We have no plans to change the fees for VHF communications channels before April 2010 at the earliest, and we will give stakeholders as much notice as possible of any specific changes. We will provide further information on the next steps we plan in this area in spring 2009.
We do not expect fees for radar and aeronautical navigation aids to be subject to any change related to this policy until some time after 2010. There will be a further full consultation before any changes are made to these fees, including an impact assessment.
As noted in the Update published on 17 October 2008 we have no plans to alter the current arrangements under which mountain and lowland rescue services make use of radio channels co-ordinated and paid for by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. “Area-defined” licences, which permit use of a given radio channel anywhere in a defined area, may further increase the attractions and feasibility of co-ordinating use between multiple users.
As noted in the July 2008 consultation, we have no plans to charge AIP to ships and have proposed that we should not apply AIP to aircraft either. We proposed that spectrum used by airborne systems might be charged to DfT as the sector sponsor. Other navigation systems which interact with aircraft transponders may present similar issues. We will discuss the options further with Government before publishing the next consultation.
It is our intention to hold a number of stakeholder workshops before publishing further proposals for consultation.