Licence Exemption of Wireless Telegraphy Devices: Candidates for 2015

Published: 31 July 2015
Consultation closes: 20 September 2015
Status: Closed (statement published)

About this document

This document sets out Ofcom's plans to make regulations that will amend the existing Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 licence exemption criteria for some wireless devices.

Most people will interact with licence-exempt, low-power, wireless devices in an average day - from Wi-Fi routers to car key-fobs and wireless doorbells.

Today’s proposals follow regular Ofcom reviews and are intended to reflect technical developments. In particular, the consultation proposes some minor changes to the existing exemption criteria for the following devices:

  • Personal Mobile Radio (PMR) 446 - liberalising the use of this band (446.0 to 446.2 MHz) by removing analogue and digital demarcations from the frequency bands;
  • Railway Level Crossing Radar - replacing the current ‘exclusion zones’ surrounding Radio Astronomy sites with ‘coordination zones’; and
  • Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) equipment - reclassifying the technical requirements, currently classed as Cordless Telephony, to Short Range Devices.
Back to top