New On-site Religious Observance Radio Service

RA Press Release - 31 March 2000

The Minister of State for Small Business and E Commerce, Patricia Hewitt MP, has announced that the Radiocommunications Agency will introduce a new radio service authorising the transmission of speech messages for religious observance purposes on 3 April 2000.

The new service, which is open to all religious groups, will permit On-site Private Business Radio licensees to transmit speech messages of a religious nature for periods of up to 10 minutes. This will allow users to transmit "call to prayer" messages and standard short prayers, but prohibit the transmission of longer weekly services and those on special occasions.

New frequencies in the 454 MHz band have been made available for the service. This will alleviate frequency assignment problems, as up to now religious observance systems have had to share frequencies with wide area paging systems.

Commenting on the new service Patricia Hewitt stated "the On-site Religious Observance Radio service will provide a dedicated radio service for religious groups with a clear set of guidelines covering its use. The use of new channels will ease assignment problems in congested areas and the use of speech equipment significantly reduce licensees’ equipment costs".

Further information

For more information contact:

Graham Noyce
Private Business Systems Unit
Radiocommunications Agency
11G/11C
Wyndham House
189 Marsh Wall
London E14 9SX

Tel: 020 7211 0198
Fax: 020 7211 0118

NOTES FOR EDITORS - On-site Religious Observance Radio service

The On-site Religious Observance Radio service, which will be introduced on 3 April 2000, will permit the transmission of short messages for religious observance and "call to prayer" purposes. It will be open to all religious groups.

The service will permit one-way speech messages (from base stations to mobile receivers) for periods of up to 10 minutes. Follow-on messages, however, must not take place until a period four times the duration of the preceding message has elapsed ie after a 3 minute message, a follow-on message cannot take place until 12 minutes later.

The permitted coverage area for the service will normally be up to 3 km from the base station, but wider coverage areas will be considered. Dedicated channels for this service will be in the 454 MHz band (454.39375 MHz, 454.40625 MHz, 454.79375 MHz and 454.80625 MHz). These channels are subject to UHF 2 band replanning and are expected to change in 2005. Users of the channels should either ensure that their radio systems can be adjusted to cover the full range of the 450-470 MHz band, or be prepared to replace or cease using their systems when the change takes place. Equipment must be type approved to MPT 1326 or ETS 300 086.

Religious observance systems will be licensed by the On-site PBR licence. On-site PBR licence fees will apply.

The licensing of religious observance systems under the Private Wide Area Paging (PWAP) licence

In 1987, the Radiocommunications Division, as was, authorised the use of PWAP systems for "call to prayer" purposes. Although the PWAP licence is principally for paging use, it also authorises the transmission of speech messages, which were used for "call to prayer" messages.

Since 1987 practices have developed amongst "call to prayer" licensees, to transmit short daily prayers and longer weekly and other special services, in addition to "call to prayer" messages. The transmission of these longer services should not be carried out under the PWAP licence, but be licensed and regulated by the Radio Authority (the body responsible for authorising broadcast services within dedicated broadcast spectrum). To this end, the Agency is introducing the On-site Religious Observance Radio service (for the transmission of "call to prayer" messages and short prayers) and from 30 June 2000, closing the PWAP service to new "call to prayer" systems. PWAP "call to prayer" systems licensed before the closure date will be allowed to continue with current practices.

Advantages of the On-site Religious Observance Radio service over PWAP

1. PWAP religious observance systems have to share channels with paging-only systems and in some areas the Agency has difficulty assigning frequencies. The On-site Religious Observance Radio service will overcome this problem by using new dedicated channels.
2. PWAP equipment is considerably more expensive than the speech equipment to be used for the On-site Religious Observance Radio service. The move to speech equipment will therefore produce costs savings for licensees.
3. The On-site Religious Observance Radio service will have clear guidelines on the use of equipment. It was partly the lack of clear guidelines, which resulted in PWAP "call to prayer" licensees using their systems for longer periods than had originally been anticipated.

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