Ofcom - Opportunities to free-up public sector spectrum for new uses

On Thursday the UK regulator Ofcom published proposals to enable public sector organisations to share, trade and release radio frequencies for new uses.

Frequencies allocated to the public sector, including the Ministry of Defence, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the emergency services, amount to around half of all radio spectrum below 15GHz – the most sought-after and congested frequencies. Radio spectrum is a finite resource that underpins many essential services and modern communications. An independent study recently estimated that public sector spectrum holdings alone could have a market value of between £3bn and over £20bn.

The proposals announced today will provide public sector organisations with new opportunities to make the most efficient use of their frequencies, by allowing them to trade spectrum with commercial companies, while ensuring that national security and public safety remain paramount.

These proposals will start by introducing spectrum trading to the 406.1 - 430 MHz, 2.7 - 3.4 GHz and 3.4 - 3.6 GHz bands. Over time, this will benefit citizens and consumers, with the potential launch of new services and technologies using this spectrum.

Ofcom’s Chief Executive, Ed Richards said: “Spectrum is a valuable resource and demand for it is increasing all the time. Giving public organisations new opportunities and incentives to make the most efficient use of this resource is
just one part of a wide set of measures introduced by Ofcom to make sure that the UK’s spectrum is used to the maximum.”

The consultation which closes on 4 October 2007 can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/sfrps/

PDF Document
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/sfrps/sfrps.pdf

Ofcom intends to publish a further detailed consultation later in the year looking at how the process will be implemented.

Comment: The UHF and Microwave Amateur Bands are shared with the public sector notably the MOD. The use of policies such as AIP will force the Primary users to make more efficient use of their spectrum. They will respond by selling some off and making more intensive use of the rest. If spectrum that we share is sold off, will we still be able to co-exist with a commercial user ? Will more intensive use of the remaining public sector spectrum raise issues regarding
sharing with the Amateur services ?

Table 6.1 in the document refers to 430-450 MHz, 1215-1300 MHz, 2310-2450 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz, 5000-5850 MHz and 8500-10500 MHz all of which contain Amateur and/or Amateur Satellite allocations.

If such spectrum is made available to other users who'll be paying good money for the frequency