This statement confirms that, following formal consultation, Ofcom has made regulations that extend the ability to transfer Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 (the WT Act) spectrum licence products in the Maritime and Satellite sectors. The regulations also removed the need for Ofcom to consent to a transfer of rights to use spectrum, in most instances. On 23 August 2012 the following regulations were made by Ofcom and come into force on 13 September 2012:
- the Wireless Telegraphy (Spectrum Trading) Regulations 2012, S.I. 2012/2187 (the Trading Regulations), that revoke and replace the Wireless Telegraphy (Spectrum Trading) Regulations 2004 (the 2004 Trading Regulations), as amended; and
- the Wireless Telegraphy (Register) Regulations 2012, S.I. 2012/2186 (the Register Regulations), that revoke and replace the Wireless Telegraphy (Register) Regulations 2004 (the 2004 register Regulations), as amended.
The Trading Regulations extend the ability to transfer all or part of the rights to use spectrum under a WT Act licence to the maritime and satellite earth station licence classes. The regulations also implement Ofcom's decisions outlined in our statements Statement on Authorisation regime for GNSS repeaters published June 2012 and Authorisation of terrestrial mobile networks complementary to 2 GHz mobile satellite systems (MMS) published July 2009 (PDF, 417.0 KB).
The changes allow licensees the flexibility to transfer unused/ underused elements of their spectrum holdings to a third party who could make use of it. However, this does not permit the new licensee who has been transferred the rights and obligations of the licence to use spectrum for an alternative purpose. The new licensee will still be bound to the terms, conditions and restrictions of the original licence. The specific licence products to which we have extended the ability to transfer are listed below. However, there are differences in the type of transfers that are permitted and these are explained in section 3:
- Coastal Station Radio (International);
- Coastal Station Radio (UK);
- Coastal Station Radio (International) Area Defined;
- Coastal Station Radio (UK) Area Defined;
- Coastal Station Radio (Marina);
- Coastal Station Radio (Training School);
- Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS);
- Maritime Radio (Suppliers and Demonstration);
- Permanent Earth Station (PES);
- Transportable Earth Station (TES);
- Satellite (Earth Station Network);
- Satellite (Earth Station) (Non-Fixed Satellite Service);
- Satellite (Earth Station) (Non-Geostationary);
- Satellite (Complementary Ground Components of a Mobile Satellite System); and
- Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Repeaters.
It is important to note that although our regulations introduce the ability for licensees to transfer all or part of the rights arising by virtue of their WT Act licence, there is no compulsion to do so. Spectrum transfer is not mandatory and therefore our Trading Regulations have no impact on those licensees (or their current licence terms) who do not wish to engage in it.
The Register Regulations extend the ability for Ofcom to publish certain information necessary to support the transfer process and provide information to the market to the newly transferable licence products. The information is available electronically in an online register, the Wireless Telegraphy Register (WTR). The publishing of data on the WTR fulfils our obligation under the WT Act and is compliant with the Data Protection Act.
Before deciding to make the regulations, in accordance with the requirements of section 122(4) of the WT Act, on 20 June 2012 we published a Statutory Notice Notice of Ofcom's proposals to make Wireless Telegraphy Trading and Register Regulations (the Notice). The Notice contained drafts of the regulations and invited comments from stakeholders. We received no comments to our consultation.
On reviewing the proposed regulations we decided to make a number of minor editorial changes. The changes that we introduced into the regulations are outlined in sections 4 and 5 of this document. None of the changes alter the transfer parameters for the licence products.
The regulations will be available on the website www.legislation.gov.uk under the titles listed above. A copy of Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) is also included in the Annex to this statement.