This document outlines our decisions following the 7 April 2011 consultation Licence Exemption of Wireless Telegraphy Devices - Candidates for 2011 (the 2011 Consultation) and consults on draft regulations to implement our decisions.
Under section 8(1) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 (the WT Act), it is an offence to establish, install or use equipment for wireless telegraphy without holding a licence granted by us, unless the use of such equipment is exempted. The 2011 Consultation outlined a number of proposals relating to the exemption of wireless telegraphy devices, including:
- Use of personal locator beacons (PLBs) on land;
- Wireless access user equipment in the 3400 to 3800 MHz band;
- Safety related intelligent transport systems (ITS) infrastructure;
- 2GHz mobile satellite service (MSS) terminals;
- User equipment connecting to the 2012 London Games Tetra (Apollo) Network; and
- Generic Short Range Devices (SRDs) in the 138 MHz band.
The 2011 Consultation also provided information on relevant European Union (EU) legislation that had been adopted or was in the process of being adopted, which requires subsequent changes to our exemption regulations. These include:
- fourth Generation (4G) mobile user equipment (LTE and WiMAX) in the 900 / 1800 MHz band (before 4G services will be available a variation of the mobile operators network licence would also be required);
- radio spectrum for use by short-range devices; and
- Automotive Short Range Radar at 24 GHz.
We received two confidential and eighteen non-confidential responses to the 2011 Consultation. The non-confidential respondents are listed in Annex 10 of this document and copies of the responses are available on our website. Of these responses the majority supported our proposals. We have however, given consideration to objections and comments which were raised and these are addressed in Section 2 of this document.
In accordance with the requirements of section 122(4) and (5) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 (the WT Act) this document gives notice of our intention to make the Wireless Telegraphy (Exemption) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (the Proposed Regulations), the Wireless Telegraphy (Exemption and Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2011 (the Proposed SRD Regulations) and the Wireless Telegraphy (Intelligent Transport Systems) (Exemption) Regulations 2011 (the Proposed ITS Regulations).
A Regulatory Impact Assessment is included in Annex 5 of this document. Copies of the Proposed Regulations are included in this document at Annex 6, the Proposed SRD Regulations in Annex 7 and the Proposed ITS Regulations in Annex 8. Further copies may be obtained from www.ofcom.org.uk or from Ofcom at Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA.
Comments on the Proposed Regulations, Proposed SRD Regulations and Proposed ITS Regulations are invited by 5pm on 21 November 2011. Subject to consideration of responses and the adoption of the relevant European Union legislation we intend to bring the new regulations into force by the end of 2011.