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The purpose of this note is to give guidance to potential applicants on the approval process for joining the Airwave Sharers List.

The Airwave service is provided using spectrum that is allocated for emergency service applications and, as such, is only made available to particular types of users (ie. it is not a publicly available service). Before it can enter into a contract with Airwave Solutions Ltd an organisation needs to first:

• be approved as a “sharer” organisation by Ofcom (approval takes the form of a specific organisation, or named part of an organisation, being added to the “sharers list” recorded on the Ofcom website); and
• obtain security clearance from Cabinet Office (process not covered in this note).

The purpose of the sharers list concept is to limit the availability of the service to organisations involved in public safety related activities that have a need to communicate with the blue light services in emergency situations. Organisations need to apply to Ofcom to join the sharers list and do so by filling in a questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire is to allow Ofcom to assess whether the intended use of the service by the applicant is in line with the intended purpose of the Airwave service. Ofcom may follow up the response to the questionnaire to seek additional clarification where necessary.

There are two separate relevant questionnaires: a generic application and a full application, both of which can be downloaded from the Ofcom website. Which questionnaire the applicant completes depends on whether the organisation is a new applicant to be included on the sharers list (full application questionnaire) or a generic organisation type (named part of an organisation, for example a local authority emergency planning department), which is already included on the sharers list (generic application questionnaire). For the avoidance of doubt with respect to generic organisations, each organisation needs to become added to the sharers list in its own right; the fact that a generic organisation type (such as a local authority emergency planning department) is included on the list does not in itself constitute approval.

In assessing whether an organisation should be allowed to join the list, Ofcom is seeking to understand through the answers to the questionnaire:

• who the defined “user group” will be within the applying organisation (it will sometimes be the case that the valid user group will be a subset of the applying organisation); and
• what types of communication the user group will use the Airwave service for (in addition to communications within and between sharer organisations at times of emergency).

In assessing the appropriate “user group” Ofcom will only approve users who need to be part of the communication chain that links to blue-light services in emergency situations.

Once a user group is identified in line with the above requirement, Ofcom will also consider the broader nature of use that this defined user group is expecting to make of the service. In so doing, Ofcom is seeking to understand whether the usage will be restricted to emergency and other related public safety activities (including routine operations associated with these activities). Where the primary role of the user group is concerned with emergencies and other related public safety activities, Ofcom will expect to approve the addition of the user group to the sharers list, providing proportionality criteria are met (eg. relating to the numbers of terminals expecting to be used).

In cases where the user group will need to communicate on emergency or related public safety matters on an infrequent basis only (eg. only in the case of disaster response) then Ofcom will want to understand that use of the system will be restricted outside of these situations before adding the user group to the sharers list, although users will clearly need to be familiar with the system and take part in related planning exercises etc.

In order to validate an organisation’s or user group’s requirement, there may be a requirement to have an application supported by one or more emergency service (details required are outlined within the application form). In view of this, and in order to shorten the time taken to complete the assessment of your application, you might wish to submit such support as part of your application. In some distinct cases user groups may not require a letter of support where known blue –light interoperability is obvious (eg. A CCTV control room or Local Authority Emergency Planning Departments). In most cases a letter of support will be necessary in order to validate eligibility to be added to the list (eg. Warden schemes, Rural GPs, Private Ambulance schemes etc.)

For any further clarification, including around letters of support, please email kuha.sithamparanathan@ofcom.org.uk or andrew.jacks@ofcom.org.uk

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