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Business Review 1997-98 |
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Business Review 1997-98 |
Table 1 gives numbers of different types of licences on issue at 31 March 1998 compared to 12 months earlier. The overall picture is of continuing strong demand for licences with extremely rapid growth in some categories.
The statistics provide a snapshot at a fixed moment in time. They are useful for making historical comparisons but less good as an indicator of dynamic demand pressures at a time of fast-moving market and technological change. The fourth edition of the Agency's Strategy for the Future Use of the Radio Spectrum in the UK gives a more complete picture of current developments and future prospects in particular:
chapter 2 on developments in radiocommunications;
chapter 3 on the outcome of WRC-97;
chapter 4 on future demand for public mobile communications (including
cellular, PAMR, CBS and paging services), PBR and point-to-point fixed links.
| TABLE 1: NUMBER OF LICENCES ON ISSUE AT 31 MARCH | ||
|---|---|---|
1998 |
1997 | |
| LICENCE SECTOR / category | ||
AERONAUTICAL |
||
| Aeronautical Ground Stations | ||
| AGS General | 484 |
484 |
| AGS (Special) | 634 |
714 |
| AGS (Special Mobile) | 141 |
141 |
| Groundstations | 377 |
413 |
Aeronautical Ground Stations Sub Total |
1,636 |
1,752 |
Aircraft |
||
| Tier code A | 705 |
680 |
| Tier code B | 386 |
402 |
| Tier code C | 4,215 |
4,315 |
| Airstations | 1,056 |
1,096 |
| Aircraft Sub Total | 6,362 |
6,493 |
| Navigational Aids | 612 |
600 |
Aeronautical Total |
8,610 |
8,845 |
AMATEUR 1 |
||
| Amateur Radio A | 31,365 |
32,600 |
| Amateur Radio B | 24,992 |
25,802 |
| Amateur Radio Novice A | 238 |
223 |
| Amateur Radio Novice B | 2,607 |
2,442 |
Amateur Radio Total |
59,202 |
61,067 |
| Citizens' Band Radio | 43,089 |
47,603 |
Amateur and CB Total |
102,291 |
108,670 |
BROADCASTING |
||
| Transmission of Terrestrial UHF TV Services | 2 |
2 |
| Transmission of Satellite Broadcasting Services | 0 |
0 |
| Transmission of National and Local Broadcasting Services 2 | 120 |
92 |
| Restricted Radio Services Transmission 3 | 34 |
76 |
Broadcasting Total |
156 |
170 |
FIXED SERVICES |
||
| Fixed Radio-Relay Link | 256 |
252 |
| Fixed Millimetric Radio-Relay Link (58GHz) 4 | 228 |
250 |
| Scanning Telemetry Link 5 | 66 |
70 |
| Point To Multipoint | 26 |
0 |
Fixed Services Total |
576 |
572 |
MARITIME |
||
Coastal Station Radio |
||
| CSR (UK) | 583 |
610 |
| CSR (Marina) | 419 |
407 |
| CSR (International) | 411 |
389 |
Coastal Station Radio Sub Total |
1,413 |
1,406 |
Ships Radio 6 |
||
| Charities | 36 |
109 |
| Others | 59,972 |
57,519 |
Ships Radio Sub Total |
60,008 |
57,628 |
| Navigational Aids | 66 |
110 |
Maritime Total |
61,487 |
59,144 |
PRIVATE BUSINESS RADIO |
||
| Private Mobile Radio (Standard) | 28,577 |
28,921 |
|---|---|---|
| Private Mobile Radio Parking and Demonstration | 198 |
201 |
| Private Mobile Radio Short Term Hire | 437 |
450 |
| Private Mobile Radio Road Construction | 26 |
20 |
| Local Communications | 1,155 |
1,233 |
| Radio Paging (Standard) | 8,125 |
8,659 |
| Private Wide Area Paging | 222 |
210 |
| Local Authority (Emergency Alarm) Radio | 23 |
21 |
| Police and Fire Service Comprehensive Radio | 124 |
121 |
| Short Range Business Radio | 7,511 |
3,151 |
Private Business Radio Sub Total |
46,398 |
42,897 |
PROGRAMME MAKING & SPECIAL EVENTS |
||
| Independent Programme Makers Licences 7 | ||
| Site Specific - 7 Day | n/a |
36 |
| Fixed Site - annual | n/a |
296 |
| Fixed Site - 4 monthly | n/a |
0 |
| Radio Microphone (UK General) | n/a |
977 |
| Radio Microphone (Studio & other indoor use) | n/a |
391 |
| Services Ancillary to Programme Making | n/a |
1 |
| Broadcasters and Commissioned Programme Makers Licences | ||
| Television | n/a |
184 |
| Radio | n/a |
112 |
| Programme Makers and Special Licences | 1,300 |
n/a |
Programme Making Sub Total |
1,300 |
1,997 |
PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS |
||
| Common Base Station Operator | 960 |
992 |
| Public Mobile Operator | 32 |
28 |
| Radio fixed access (Point to Multipoint) | 9 |
- |
Public Mobile Communications Sub Total |
1,001 |
1,020 |
SPACE SERVICES 8 |
||
| Permanent Earth Stations | 73 |
84 |
| Transportable Earth Stations | 59 |
57 |
| VSAT Stations 9 | 19 |
18 |
| Miscellaneous Earth Stations (inc TT & C) | 24 |
12 |
Space Services Sub Total |
175 |
171 |
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT |
||
| Testing and Development | 793 |
739 |
| Radar Level Gauge | 112 |
71 |
| Special licences | 9 |
6 |
| Temporary Licence | 20 |
31 |
Technology Development Sub Total |
934 |
847 |
GRAND TOTAL |
222,928 |
224,333 |
1. Licences distributed by SSL Ltd.
2. One of these licences is issued to NTL (National Transcommunications Ltd.) which covers 79 local stations.
3. During the year 299 Restricted Radio Services licences were issued.
4. The number of licences held decreased because one company combined several of its licences.
5. The number of licences held decreased due to a number of licences being revoked / cancelled.
6. With effect from 1 April 1997 a single fee was introduced for both pleasure and non-pleasure vessels.
7. A new licensing regime was introduced on 1 April 1997 and licence figures for 97-98 are not comparable with earlier years'. Under the new regime each customer holds an annual licence that may contain numerous frequency assignments. During the term of the licence frequencies may be added as the customer requires, either for short term or annual use. The number of frequency assignments made during 1997-98 was 32,036.
8. Figures for Space Services earth station licences do not equate to the total number of individual earth stations since licences are presently issued to the major operators on an omnibus basis.
9. The licences under this category are quoted per network and represent a total of approximately 3,500 individual VSAT terminals.
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