1. In summary the proposed Licence Charges Regulations will include:

2. The Regulations replace 8 current sets of Regulations laid at various intervals over the last 5 years. For all licence classes other than those listed below the fees are unchanged, but a new overriding power will allow any existing licence to be charged for part periods of a year at the Secretary of State’s discretion, except for those classes which already operate on a short period basis.

The changes made for this second stage of implementing spectrum pricing follow below. Under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1998, Spectrum Pricing changes the basis of fee calculation. Fees were previously based on administrative cost recovery. The changes proposed were explained in the September 1998 Consultative Document "Spectrum Pricing: Implementing the Second Stage", but with some fee proposals modified in the light of comments received.

3. Additional fee factor (fee per channel) to be added to new On- site PBR class introduced July last year. Unit prices range from £75 to £200 according to congestion factors. (current fee £100 per site). Each fee will depend on the number of sites, channels and location. Expected to further decrease fees for many services except for those with multiple frequencies or in congested locations in and around London.

4. New wide-area PBR class to be introduced to cover services operating typically across a town -e.g. taxi firms. Fees per channel per area depend on congestion and exclusivity from unit prices of £75 to £1640. (Current cost- based fees for current licences which will be revoked start at £120 per 10 mobiles). Expected to decrease fees for about half of current licensees and increase for others depending on location (congested in and around London),exclusivity and numbers of frequencies and areas covered,

5. New National PBR class to be introduced for UK national channels at £8250 or £9900 for congested channels or proportions thereof for countries within the UK (current UK fees £6600 per channel). The lower fee is for channels in less demand.

Expected to increase fees to reflect heavy demand for exclusive channels, but new facility permits Secretary of State to phase in prices over 4 years fees for use of national channels introducing spectrally efficient technology.

6. Introduction of a new fee scale for point to point links First stage of 4 year changes, with prices for congested bands and regions rising significantly in later years to reflect heavy demand. Unit prices for 1999 vary from £230 to £2775 per link according to bandwidth, congestion and other spectrum factors (current fees vary from £255 to £1280 per link). Expected to increase fees for links in congested areas and bands (see maps in Consultation Document), but to decrease the remainder.

7. New fee scales for common base stations with unit prices from £407 to £900 per channel area depending on congestion (current fee £ 675). Most licence fees stay the same this year (in congested areas) or will decrease (in non congested areas), but increases in very congested areas. Further adjustments may be proposed in later years.

8. Second increase for public telephony service operators on a 4 year plan and first change of 4 years for other public data network and paging services to reflect spectrum value. See draft Regulations for individual fees for each band. Detailed plans for future years will depend on further consultation.

9. Two classes introduced previously, but not published in any fee regulations are now published. They do not involve any fee changes or other changes for customers. (The Consultation document advised spectrum pricing for these classes would be introduced in later years). The new classes are:

Radio Fixed Access

Remote Meter Reading

ADDENDUM TO FEE REGULATION INFORMATION

Please note that the responses to the consultation and the draft fee regulations are not available at this web -site, but hard copies of both can be obtained from :

Des Daly
Radiocommunications Agency
Licensing Policy Unit
Wyndham House
189 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SX

Tel 020 7211 0477
Fax 020 7211 0523
e-mail address des.daly@ra.gsi.gov.uk

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