I am pleased to be able to report on another eventful and successful year for the Radiocommunications Agency, despite many mixed fortunes in the communications sector. We faced continuing strong demand for spectrum for innovation and growth in several parts of the radio spectrum. Spectrum continues to be a much sought-after raw material for generating substantial economic value – estimated at over £20bn a year – and social benefits. There is no doubt that wireless communication will play a central and growing role in the communications of the future, and meeting demand for spectrum is key to making the UK a successful and dynamic communications market.

It has been a year of reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future. On 12 December, the Agency was proud to host a reception, hosted by e-commerce Minister Douglas Alexander MP, to mark the centenary of the first transatlantic radio transmission by Guglielmo Marconi from Poldhu, Cornwall. This provided an opportunity to reflect how far and how fast radiocommunications has come in the last 100 years, from the first faltering transmissions in Morse code across the Atlantic to worldwide electronic communications, multimedia broadband and the Internet.

OFCOM

But we also have our eyes fixed firmly on the future and the transfer of all of the Agency's spectrum management functions to a new unified communications regulator, OFCOM, as announced in the December 2000 White Paper A New Future for Communications. The last 12 months have seen the passage through Parliament of legislation to establish OFCOM and also a huge amount of work on the substantive legislation that will give OFCOM its powers and responsibilities.

The draft Communications Bill was published on 7 May 2002. In addition to transferring spectrum management to OFCOM, this makes a number of important changes to the future of spectrum management, including the long-awaited introduction of spectrum trading.

Radio is at the heart of the communications revolution and spectrum management will be central to the work of the new regulator. Given the current stage of development of the legislation it has been assumed for the purposes of this report that present policies and projects will not be affected. Subject to the passing of the legislation, I look forward with confidence to the Agency playing a key role in OFCOM.

Spectrum planning and management

We set great store by our strategic approach to spectrum planning. The sixth edition of the Agency's Spectrum Strategy was published in draft in October and the final version has just been issued. This builds on the previous editions and goes further in highlighting what we see as the likely growth areas in demand. In compiling this, we have drawn on work done on future scenarios for convergence. The Strategy also discusses the trade-offs the Agency is attempting to manage between different spectrum uses. We will aim to develop the Strategy further in future editions and welcome all comments received.

The Agency has continued to pioneer the use of innovative spectrum management techniques to provide modern spectrum management for modern communications needs. We have continued to roll out administrative incentive pricing, launched a flexible, extended award process for broadband fixed wireless access licences and made significant progress towards introducing spectrum trading.

The independent Review of Radio Spectrum Management by Professor Martin Cave reported in March 2002. The report praises the work of the Agency in introducing and implementing market-based spectrum management reforms and makes a number of wide-ranging and important recommendations on developing these. The Government has welcomed publication of the report and will be responding formally in the summer.

International representation

The Agency continues to attach considerable importance to international work. Radio waves do not stop conveniently at national boundaries and the trend to international harmonisation of spectrum allocations and technical standards assumes increasing significance in global markets for equipment and services. Internationally, we have continued to play a full role to promote the UK's interests in European and wider international fora. We have led the way in developing common European proposals for two major conferences of the International Telecommunication Union in 2002 and the forthcoming World Radio Conference in 2003. We have also played a prominent role in negotiating the new suite of European directives on electronic communications, which was agreed in December 2001 and will be implemented in July 2003. We also play a leading part in developing standards to protect radio services from interference from non-radio products. The Agency's success in leveraging its reputation and influence in international negotiations and discussions is of growing importance to promoting UK national interests in communications.

Customer communications and services

We have continued to invest considerable effort in communicating with our customers, whether through our programme of roadshows, formal consultations, standing advisory committees or local customer panels. We are also endeavouring to become more transparent and to publish more information about spectrum use and assignments although we will be sensitive to concerns about commercial confidentiality. We carried out an extensive licensee satisfaction survey in summer 2001. The results were encouraging with satisfaction levels generally high. But we recognise there are areas where we can do even better and we will strive to do so.

Electronic business is central to improving customer service. We have continued to progress towards e-licensing as part of the Modernising Government agenda. The first stage of our e-licensing programme was completed in October 2001 with the first three e-customer services going live. The second stage began in December. Our aim is to meet the Government's target of providing all services online by 2005. This is an ambitious project and we have made a good start.

Investing in people

I attach great importance to developing the full potential of colleagues at all levels in the Agency. We remain committed to Investor in People (IiP) principles and work on IiP continued throughout the year. Re-accreditation was planned for April 2002, just after the end of the year under review. I am delighted to be able to report that we were successful. This was a notable achievement, especially as we had opted to undertake re-accreditation before it was due. This indicates our keenness and commitment to IiP.

The Agency is also committed to equal opportunities and diversity and this was reflected in a series of initiatives, including a programme of awareness-raising workshops and ongoing efforts to address the balance and mix of staff in terms of gender, ethnicity and disability at all grades.

There is much else worthy of note in this report and I hope you find it of interest. In addition, there is a wealth of material on the Agency's website www.radio.gov.uk

Finally, I would like to record my appreciation of the contribution made by David Hendon, who recently moved back to central DTI. During David's tenure as Chief Executive, the Agency went from strength to strength towards its aim of being the best spectrum manager in the world, with many notable achievements to its credit. I should also record his strong personal commitment to equal opportunities and diversity. My colleagues and I wish him every success in his new post.

Michael Goddard
Acting Chief Executive
03 July 2002