Land Mobile Radio Licensing and Channel Statistics Report 2003

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Introduction

This Report has been produced in line with the Radiocommunications Agency's commitment to publish detailed statistics on spectrum usage in the land mobile radio bands.

The Report provides information on the private business radio (PBR) services which were licensed to operate on frequencies in the range 26 - 466 MHz at 31 December 2002. It also provides details of the spectrum allocated to land mobile radio services.

The report is in two sections:

Part 1: PBR Licence Statistics

Part 1 provides detailed statistics on PBR licences that were in force at the end of 2002. The tables in Part 1 provide a breakdown of licensing data by various licence and business use categories. Data on the number of PBR frequency assignments and mobiles is provided for some licence categories.

In July 2002 the Agency introduced the PBR UK General Licence to replace the PMR (Standard) UK General Licence. The new licence allows customers access to one or more of 15 frequencies for a fixed fee, regardless of the number of mobiles used. Therefore, information on numbers of mobiles/assignments for the UK General category can no longer be provided. The number of licences on issue at the end of 2002 can be found in the 'Other Private Business Radio Licences' table.

Significant effects during the year include the return of one High Band and nine Low Band national exclusive channels. In addition several large licences were terminated during 2002. More details can be found in the 'Other Private Business Radio Licences' table.

Part 2: Land Mobile Spectrum

Part 2 provides details of the spectrum available to PBR services in the land mobile radio bands and how it is used.

This section also provides similar information about public access mobile radio, common base station, national public mobile data operator services, on-site radio paging, radio paging short term hire, local communications, short range business radio paging, and wide area paging.

picture of man in ambulance

Part 1: Private Business Radio Statistics

Wide Area Private Business Radio Licences

NUMBER OF LICENCES AT 31 DECEMBER 2002

MOBILE RADIO RANGES
LICENCE CATEGORY	Licences with 1 - 10 Mobiles	Licences with 11 - 25 Mobiles	Licences with 26 - 60 Mobiles	Licences with 61 - 100 Mobiles	Licences with 101 - 200 Mobiles	Licences with 201 - 500 Mobiles	Licences with 501 - 1000 Mobiles	Licences with 1000+ Mobiles	Total Licences in Category
Wide Area Shared	2619	836	361	61	16	4	2	0	3899
Taxis & Private Car Hire	3694	1750	979	215	90	23	3	1	6755
Motor/Pedal Cycle Despatch	32	48	56	21	15	3	0	0	175
Local & Central Government	210	225	272	164	118	43	9	1	1042
Ambulance & General Medical	143	107	39	11	6	0	1	0	307
Water Industry	7	11	6	0	0	1	1	1	27
Gas, electricity, coal & nuclear	10	12	5	10	4	4	13	8	66
Bus & Coach Operators	11	21	16	18	27	8	5	3	109
Protected Service Users	95	15	6	17	7	3	1	0	144
'Other' Users	20	11	5	1	1	1	0	0	39
TOTAL	6841	3036	1745	518	284	90	35	14	12563

NUMBER OF MOBILES AT 31 DECEMBER 2002

MOBILE RADIO RANGES
LICENCE CATEGORY	1 - 10 Mobiles	11 - 25 Mobiles	26 - 60 Mobiles	61 - 100 Mobiles	101 - 200 Mobiles	201 - 500 Mobiles	501 - 1000 Mobiles	1000+ Mobiles	Total Licences in Category
Wide Area Shared	18648	15353	14294	4637	2095	1309	1250	0	57586
Taxis & Private Car Hire	26683	35311	41091	18191	13296	6300	1750	3600	146222
Motor/Pedal Cycle Despatch	272	1038	2491	1862	2265	840	0	0	8768
Local & Central Government	1429	4181	11670	13582	16620	13396	5487	1216	67581
Ambulance & General Medical	992	1785	1519	871	808	0	820	0	6795
Water Industry	39	213	195	0	0	497	600	5060	6604
Gas, electricity, coal & nuclear	59	184	238	845	515	1668	8928	9692	22129
Bus & Coach Operators	84	426	744	1504	3807	2312	3684	10284	22845
Protected Service Users	302	281	274	1352	997	938	639	0	4783
'Other' Users	119	173	240	95	168	248	0	0	1043
TOTAL	48627	58945	72756	42939	40571	27508	23158	29852	344356

Notes:

The tables exclude national exclusive channel licences. There is no mobiles data available for this category, but data on the number of licences can be found in the

'Other Private Business Radio Licences' table and there is a breakdown of assignments by frequency band.

The data on the Medical and Utilities categories relates to shared channel licences only. It does not include services which operate on national exclusive channels.

‘Protected Service Users’ licences do not fit into any of the other categories. These users operate services which are given a high degree of protection from co-channel interference (other categories in the table can also include licensees with protected services).

Details of major licences relinquished during 2002 can be found in the

'Other Private Business Radio Licences' table.

The tables no longer include data on the UK General category (see Introduction). Last year this category accounted for a total of 3,189 licences and 61,735 mobiles of which 463 licences (14,355 mobiles) were included in the Government, Medical, Utilities, Protected Service and ‘Other’ Users categories.

On-site Private Business Radio Licences

NUMBER OF LICENCES AT 31 DECEMBER 2002

MOBILE RADIO RANGES
LICENCE CATEGORY	Licences with 1 - 10 Mobiles	Licences with 11 - 25 Mobiles	Licences with 26 - 60 Mobiles	Licences with 61 - 100 Mobiles	Licences with 101 - 200 Mobiles	Licences with 201 - 500 Mobiles	Licences with 501 - 1000 Mobiles	Licences with 1000+ Mobiles	Total Licences in Category
Single & Dual Frequency (general)	14729	4557	1407	240	81	31	3	1	21049
Local & Central Government	1289	277	102	29	5	1	0	0	1703
Ambulance & General Medical	654	186	32	7	1	0	0	0	880
Water Industry	126	21	2	0	0	0	0	0	149
Gas, electricity, coal & nuclear	197	68	44	26	12	0	0	0	347
Protected Service Users	1078	122	26	2	0	0	1	1	1230
'Other' Users	141	70	60	14	5	0	0	0	290
TOTAL	18214	5301	1673	318	104	32	4	2	25648

NUMBER OF MOBILES AT 31 DECEMBER 2002

MOBILE RADIO RANGES
LICENCE CATEGORY	Licences with 1 - 10 Mobiles	Licences with 11 - 25 Mobiles	Licences with 26 - 60 Mobiles	Licences with 61 - 100 Mobiles	Licences with 101 - 200 Mobiles	Licences with 201 - 500 Mobiles	Licences with 501 - 1000 Mobiles	Licences with 1000+ Mobiles	Total Licences in Category
Single & Dual Frequency (general)	87770	80015	55103	19182	12633	8623	1988	1500	266814
Local & Central Government	7572	4827	3966	2574	774	293	0	0	20006
Ambulance & General Medical	3696	3148	1226	540	120	0	0	0	8730
Water Industry	630	335	56	0	0	0	0	0	1021
Gas, electricity, coal & nuclear	1111	1152	1729	2100	1689	0	0	0	7781
Protected Service Users	4178	1939	1011	159	0	0	950	1567	9804
'Other' Users	799	1158	2353	1120	605	0	0	0	6035
TOTAL	105756	92574	65444	25675	15821	8916	2938	3067	320191

Notes:

The tables exclude national exclusive channel licences. There is no mobiles data available for this category, but data on the number of licences can be found in the 'Other Private Business Radio Licences' table and there is a breakdown of assignments by frequency band.

The data on the Medical and Utilities categories relates to shared channel licences only. It does not include services which operate on national exclusive channels.

Number of Frequency Assignments in each of the Land Mobile Radio Bands

Number of Mobiles in each of the Land Mobile Radio Bands

Other Private Business Radio Licences

Year on Year Comparisons

Wide Area Private Business Radio Licences
Total Mobiles and Licences

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	84713	12384	73412	10719	67986	9900	48627	6841
11-25	73733	3773	70276	3622	68086	3511	58945	3036
26-60	82083	1911	78892	1871	77989	1859	72756	1745
61-100	46013	553	47728	577	45100	541	42939	518
101-200	46373	328	45118	314	47221	331	40571	284
201-500	34981	120	30431	104	30510	101	27508	90
501-1000	18918	27	26899	40	27761	42	23158	35
1000+	54124	30	47566	26	60329	26	29852	14
TOTAL	440,938	19,126	420,322	17,273	424,982	16,311	344,356	12,563

Graph of mobile radio ranges and number of mobiles from December 1999- December 2002

Graph showing mobile radio ranges and number of licences from December 1999 - December 2002

Note: the reduction in the number of licences and mobiles is mainly due to the removal of the UK General category (see Introduction and footnote 5)

Wide Area Shared Use

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	25579	3661	22530	3205	20347	2884	18648	2619
11-25	17504	951	16723	907	16106	874	15353	836
26-60	16090	400	15267	384	14578	364	14294	361
61-100	3795	48	4526	59	4612	61	4637	61
101-200	3467	25	2778	21	3186	24	2095	16
201-500	630	2	630	2	1005	3	1309	4
501-1000	1250	2	1250	2	2070	3	1250	2
1000+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	68,315	5,089	63,704	4,580	61,904	4,213	57,586	3,899

Graph showing mobile radio ranges and number of mobiles from December 1999 - December 2002

Graph showing mobile radio ranges and number of licences from December 1999 - December 2002

Taxis and Private Car Hire

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	35707	4916	30764	4256	28931	3975	26683	3694
11-25	37154	1804	35283	1735	35624	1754	35311	1750
26-60	33106	749	36487	846	38512	907	41091	979
61-100	12757	150	14426	169	15586	182	18191	215
101-200	8978	61	10273	69	12008	81	13296	90
201-500	5658	22	5670	22	6110	23	6300	23
501-1000	0	0	1200	2	1200	2	1750	3
1000+	2500	1	5500	2	6500	2	3600	1
TOTAL	135,860	7,703	139,603	7,101	144,471	6,926	146,222	6,755

Motor/Pedal Cycle Despatch

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	461	57	339	40	276	33	272	32
11-25	1945	93	1481	69	1176	55	1038	48
26-60	4355	96	2822	63	2947	66	2491	56
61-100	1850	22	1885	22	1595	18	1862	21
101-200	2685	18	2515	16	2460	16	2265	15
201-500	840	3	840	3	840	3	840	3
501-1000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1000+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	12,136	289	9,882	213	9,294	191	8,768	175

Local and Central Government

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	2994	490	2615	421	2546	407	1429	210
11-25	5596	306	5352	292	5622	305	4181	225
26-60	18094	414	14499	340	14490	338	11670	272
61-100	18875	227	17988	219	16061	193	13582	164
101-200	20339	149	18752	136	19145	139	16620	118
201-500	15753	53	15027	50	14885	48	13396	43
501-1000	4585	8	7593	12	7202	12	5487	9
1000+	0	0	1200	1	1200	1	1216	1
TOTAL	86,236	1,647	83,026	1,471	81,151	1,443	67,581	1,042

Ambulance and General Medical

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	1251	196	1109	171	1134	173	992	143
11-25	1767	107	1855	112	1795	108	1785	107
26-60	1354	34	1415	36	1545	40	1519	39
61-100	940	12	940	12	940	12	871	11
101-200	613	5	808	6	808	6	808	6
201-500	850	3	250	1	250	1	0	0
501-1000	1000	1	0	0	0	0	820	1
1000+	0	0	1120	1	1120	1	0	0
TOTAL	7,775	358	7,497	339	7,592	341	6,795	307

Water Industry

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	77	14	94	16	82	14	39	7
11-25	797	39	829	41	308	17	213	11
26-60	1851	41	1851	41	292	8	195	6
61-100	2080	26	2190	27	517	6	0	0
101-200	576	4	576	4	109	1	0	0
201-500	682	2	692	2	232	1	497	1
501-1000	0	0	0	0	0	0	600	1
1000+	0	0	0	0	13545	1	5060	1
TOTAL	6,063	126	6,232	131	15,085	48	6,604	27

Gas, Electricity, Coal and Nuclear

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	125	33	114	19	116	22	59	10
11-25	342	20	321	19	293	18	184	12
26-60	684	17	612	15	544	12	238	5
61-100	1109	13	1162	14	1412	17	845	10
101-200	1726	12	1276	8	1818	12	515	4
201-500	2330	7	1252	3	1668	4	1668	4
501-1000	5696	7	10064	14	9757	14	8928	13
1000+	29335	20	15445	12	13663	11	9692	8
TOTAL	41,347	129	30,246	104	29,271	110	22,129	66

Bus and Coach Operators

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	30	3	32	5	30	3	84	11
11-25	131	7	131	7	131	7	426	21
26-60	428	11	528	13	387	9	744	16
61-100	1057	12	892	10	966	11	1504	18
101-200	2781	19	2946	20	3022	21	3807	27
201-500	2240	8	2260	8	1780	6	2312	8
501-1000	3099	4	3099	4	3684	5	3684	5
1000+	10284	3	10284	3	10284	3	10284	3
TOTAL	20,050	67	20,172	70	20,284	65	22,845	109

Protected Service Users

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	764	120	350	104	560	144	302	95
11-25	1623	85	1728	90	486	26	281	15
26-60	797	19	712	17	438	10	274	6
61-100	1228	15	1272	16	1272	16	1352	17
101-200	1455	10	1514	10	997	7	997	7
201-500	1247	4	1230	4	1230	4	938	3
501-1000	639	1	639	1	639	1	639	1
1000+	5281	2	2000	1	2000	1	0	0
TOTAL	13,034	256	9,445	243	7,622	209	4,783	144

Other Users

Total Mobiles and Licences – Wide Area

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	93	15	124	19	133	22	119	20
11-25	143	9	171	11	161	10	173	11
26-60	123	3	123	3	123	3	240	5
61-100	0	0	95	1	95	1	95	1
101-200	168	1	416	3	416	3	168	1
201-500	0	0	0	0	0	0	248	1
501-1000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1000+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	527	28	929	37	928	39	1,043	39

Year on Year Comparisons

On-site Private Business Radio Licences
Total Mobiles and Licences

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	117217	20440	109894	18726	109352	18832	105756	18214
11-25	72443	4185	79913	4582	87207	4971	92574	5301
26-60	44314	1151	48358	1265	59206	1513	65444	1673
61-100	12590	159	13112	163	21156	264	25675	318
101-200	4901	33	6481	43	12598	83	15821	104
201-500	3602	12	3848	13	7859	28	8916	32
501-1000	2300	3	3088	4	3088	4	2938	4
1000+	1567	1	3067	2	3067	2	3067	2
TOTAL	258,934	25,984	267,761	24,798	303,533	25,697	320,191	25,648

Single and Dual Frequency (General)

Total Mobiles and Licences – On-site

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	100457	17366	94118	15858	91306	15360	87770	14729
11-25	62145	3566	69746	3979	75105	4255	80015	4557
26-60	35773	935	40183	1050	49811	1268	55103	1407
61-100	10067	126	10091	126	16416	207	19182	240
101-200	3558	24	4888	32	9418	60	12633	81
201-500	2934	10	3555	12	7566	27	8623	31
501-1000	0	0	1388	2	1388	2	1988	3
1000+	0	0	1500	1	1500	1	1500	1
TOTAL	214,934	22,027	225,469	21,060	252,510	21,180	266,814	21,049

Local and Central Government

Total Mobiles and Licences – On-site

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	7680	1329	7400	1273	7420	1256	7572	1289
11-25	3815	228	4042	236	4399	252	4827	277
26-60	2398	63	2734	72	3150	82	3966	102
61-100	703	9	372	5	1402	16	2574	29
101-200	304	2	654	4	774	5	774	5
201-500	293	1	293	1	293	1	293	1
501-1000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1000+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	15,193	1,632	15,495	1,591	17,438	1,612	20,006	1,703

Ambulance and General Medical

Total Mobiles and Licences – On-site

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	3632	666	3471	639	3609	650	3696	654
11-25	2292	137	2512	149	2844	167	3148	186
26-60	834	23	914	26	840	23	1226	32
61-100	0	0	0	0	470	6	540	7
101-200	120	1	120	1	120	1	120	1
201-500	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
501-1000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1000+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	6,878	827	7,017	815	7,883	847	8,730	880

Water Industry

Total Mobiles and Licences – On-site

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	628	125	647	126	627	127	630	126
11-25	314	20	314	20	330	21	335	21
26-60	248	6	56	2	56	2	56	2
61-100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
101-200	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
201-500	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
501-1000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1000+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	1,190	151	1,017	148	1,013	150	1,021	149

Gas, Electricity, Coal and Nuclear

Total Mobiles and Licences – On-site

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	1487	294	1388	278	1186	212	1111	197
11-25	1280	79	1217	73	1194	70	1152	68
26-60	1871	45	2028	53	1788	46	1729	44
61-100	1219	16	1900	23	1878	23	2100	26
101-200	798	5	819	6	1681	12	1689	12
201-500	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
501-1000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1000+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	6,655	439	7,352	433	7,727	363	7,781	347

Protected Service Users

Total Mobiles and Licences – On-site

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	2316	479	2102	413	4356	1077	4178	1078
11-25	924	59	787	49	2085	131	1939	122
26-60	509	13	202	6	1108	30	1011	26
61-100	70	1	0	0	159	2	159	2
101-200	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
201-500	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
501-1000	950	1	950	1	950	1	950	1
1000+	1567	1	1567	1	1567	1	1567	1
TOTAL	6,336	554	5,608	470	10,225	1,242	9,804	1,230

Other Users

Total Mobiles and Licences – On-site

MOBILE RADIO RANGES

Total (Dec-99)

Total (Dec-00)

Total (Dec-01)

Total (Dec-02)

	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences	Mobiles	Licences
1-10	1017	181	768	139	848	150	799	141
11-25	1673	96	1295	76	1250	75	1158	70
26-60	2681	66	2241	56	2453	62	2353	60
61-100	531	7	749	9	831	10	1120	14
101-200	121	1	0	0	605	5	605	5
201-500	375	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
501-1000	1350	2	750	1	750	1	0	0
1000+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	7,748	354	5,803	281	6,737	303	6,035	290

Frequency Assignments

Part 2: Spectrum Availability and Usage in the Land Mobile Radio Bands

1 Spectrum available for use by Private Business Radio (PBR) systems

Band I 55.75000 – 68.00000 MHz (See Section 2)

Low Band 68.08125 – 87.49375 MHz

Single

Dual

Wide area shared PBR (including data dominant and data only channels)	3	128
On-site shared PBR	8	0
PBR national channel users	3	57
PBR exclusive channel users	5	2
UK General	5	0
Short Term Hire/Parking & Demonstration	0	1
Parking & Demonstration	0	1
Road Construction	0	1
Reserved for particular uses	2	0
No assignments at present	12	99

Total channels:

289

Mid Band 139.51250 – 165.04375 MHz

Single

Dual

Wide area shared PBR1 (including data dominant and data only channels)	0	19
On-site shared PBR	10	0
PBR national channel users	8	86
UK General	2	0
Short Term Hire (3 channels are for construction projects only)	0	11
Parking & Demonstration	0	1
Road Construction	0	5
Distress Alarms	3	0
No assignments at present	4	12

Total channels:

134

Includes four channels available to the wide area shared category in the London area only (CBS & Maritime services elsewhere)

High Band 165.04375 – 173.09375 MHz

Single

Dual

Wide area shared PBR	0	186
On-site shared PBR	40	5
PBR national channel users	2	43
UK General	5	0
Short Term Hire	4	0
Parking & Demonstration	0	1
Road Construction	0	1
Distress Alarms	2	0
No assignments at present	0	1

Total channels:

237

BAND III Sub Bands 1 – 3

Single

Dual

Sub Band 1 177.20625 – 191.49375 MHz
Private Operators (including reserved channels)	0	146
Sub Band 2 193.20625 – 207.49375 MHz
Private Operators	0	95
Sub Band 3 209.20625 – 215.25625 MHz
Reserved for Private Operators	0	108

Total channels:

349

UHF 1 425.00625 – 449.49375 MHz

Single

Dual

(only available in certain major conurbations – national channels excepted)
Wide area shared PBR	5	79
On-site shared PBR (simplex channels available nationally)	34	80
On-site shared PBR (not available for new assignments – PMR 446 band)	9	0
PBR national channel users	1	10
PBR exclusive channel users	12	38
UK General (national channels)	3	0
Parking & Demonstration	0	1
Reserved for particular uses (15 simplex channels available nationally)	16	0
No assignments at present	0	3

Total channels:

211

UHF 2 453.00625 – 462.49375 MHz

Single

Dual

Wide area shared PBR	1	13
On-site shared PBR (simplex channels are not available for new assignments)	56	25
PBR national channel users	0	42
PBR exclusive channel users1	1	8
UK General (not available for new assignments)	3	0
Short Term Hire	1	9
Parking & Demonstration	0	1
Short Range Business Radio	3	0
Limited availability channels (PBR use at airports only)	0	31
Split dual frequency channels2	0	23
Reserved for particular uses	6	34

Total channels:

186

Six of the duals are available for PBR use in London and the South East only.

The receive and transmit legs of the split duals are now used as single frequency channels (not available for new assignments) and these have been counted in other categories (mainly the single frequency on-site category). No new dual frequency assignments are permitted

2 Spectrum available for use by Public Access Mobile Radio (PAMR), Common Base Station (CBS) & National Public Mobile Data Operator systems

Band I 55.75000 – 68.00000 MHz

Single

Dual

(Band I channels will be made available to public and private mobile radio services)
No assignments at present	0	380

Total channels:

380

Low Band 68.08125 – 87.49375 MHZ

Single

Dual

Common Base Stations

Total channels:

Mid Band 139.51250 – 165.04375 MHz

Single

Dual

Common Base Stations1	0	88
National Public Mobile Data Operators	2	25

Total channels:

113

Includes four channels which are used by Private Business Radio services in the London area.

High Band 165.04375 – 173.09375 MHz

Single

Dual

Common Base Stations

Total channels:

BAND III Sub Bands 1 – 3

Single

Dual

Sub Band 1 177.20625 – 191.49375 MHz
Public Access Mobile Radio Networks	0	86
Public Access Mobile Radio Networks/Common Base Stations	0	147
Common Base Stations (including reserved channels)	0	35
National Public Mobile Data Operators	0	49
Asset Tracking Network	0	6
Reserved channels	0	25
Sub Band 2 193.20625 – 207.49375 MHz
Public Access Mobile Radio Networks	0	401
No assignments at present	0	7
Sub Band 3 209.20625 – 215.25625 MHz
Reserved channels	0	108

Total channels:

864

UHF 1 425.00625 – 449.49375 MHz

Single

Dual

(only available in certain major conurbations – national channels excepted)
Common Base Stations	0	133
Reserved for Common Base Stations	0	10
Public Mobile Data Operators (includes 14 national channels)	0	21

Total channels:

164

UHF 2 453.00625 – 462.49375 MHz

Single

Dual

National Public Mobile Data Operators

Total channels:

3 Spectrum available for use by On-site Radio Paging, Radio Paging Short Term Hire, Local Communications, and Short Range Business Radio Paging systems

BANDS

26.22500 – 26.93250 MHz

(25.0 kHz channels)

VHF

31.71250 – 31.78750 MHz	(25.0 kHz channels)
48.96875 – 49.49375 MHz
159.63125 – 164.20625 MHz	(used for return speech – paired with 31, 49 & 458/459 MHz frequencies)

UHF

458.83750 – 459.48750 MHz	(25.0 kHz channels)
461.29375 – 461.30625 MHz

Frequencies available for On-site Paging and Local Communications

26 MHz	14	Includes one offset and two Short Term Hire channels
31 MHz	3
48/49 MHz	42	Includes two Short Term Hire channels
159-164 MHz	18	Includes one offset channel
458/459 MHz	20
461 MHz	1	Short Range Business Radio channel
Total:	98

4 Spectrum available for use by Wide Area Paging systems

BANDS

VHF

Single

Dual

137.96250 – 138.21250 MHz (25.0 kHz channels)
Public systems	4	0
No assignments at present	4	0
153.01250 – 153.48750 MHz (25.0 kHz channels)
Public systems	10	0
Private systems	6	0
Reserved channel	1	0
No assignments at present	1	0
(test and development use on channel)
169.41250 – 169.81250 MHz (25.0 kHz channels)
Public systems	2	0
No assignments at present	14	0
Note: This band is paired with the band 870.1-870.5 MHz to meet requirements for two way paging systems.

UHF

Single

Dual

447.85625– 449.45625 MHz (25.0 kHz channel)
Public systems	1	0
Private systems	1	0
No assignments at present	6	0
454.01250 – 454.83750 MHz (25.0 kHz channels)
Private systems (not available for new assignments)	14	0
Public systems (shared with some private systems)	2	0
No assignments at present	13	0
(test and development use on one channel)
Not currently available for paging	2	0
466.06250 – 466.08750 MHz (25.0 kHz channel)
Reserved for public systems	1	0

Total channels (VHF & UHF):

5 Summary of spectrum available to Private Business Radio, Public Access Mobile Radio, Common Base Station and National Public Mobile Data Operator systems

Band

Dual Frequency Channels

Single Frequency Channels

Total Spectrum (MHz)

Band I1	380	0	10.1625
Low Band	334	38	8.8250
Mid Band	247	29	6.5375
High Band	257	53	7.0875
Band III1	1213	0	30.3250
UHF 1	375	80	10.3750
UHF 22	206	71	5.3125
Totals:	3012	271	78.6250

Total spectrum includes 0.6625 MHz of Band I spectrum which has not yet been planned in.

Total spectrum adjusted to allow for use of some frequencies in multiple channel configurations. 18 of the dual frequency channels use mobile tx frequencies from the UHF 1 range. The base and mobile tx frequencies of these channels are counted in the UHF 2 total spectrum.

6 Summary of spectrum available to On-site Radio Paging, Radio Paging Short Term Hire, Local Communications, and Short Range Business Radio Paging systems

Band	Total Spectrum (MHz)
HF	0.32501
VHF	0.81251
UHF	0.5125
Total:	1.6500

Adjusted to allow for use of frequency offset channels.

7 Summary of spectrum available to Wide Area Paging

Band	Total Spectrum (MHz)
VHF	1.0500
UHF	1.0000
Total:	2.0500

Notes:

The frequency ranges quoted in this report are band edge to band edge. Spectrum within the ranges may also be allocated to services other than those covered by the report. The spectrum allocated for public safety communications in the 380-400 MHz band and for the TETRA digital PAMR network in the 410-430 MHz band is not included. The uses made of channels, and the number available, can be subject to change at any time. All channels are 12.5 kHz bandwidth unless otherwise stated.

The Home Office manages about 17 MHz of spectrum not covered by this report (VHF & UHF). This spectrum is used to meet the needs of police forces, fire brigades and services such as the Prison Service, home defence organisations and the Immigration Service.

If you have any queries concerning this report please contact:

Ray Wilson
RA2 / Private Business Systems Unit
Tel: 020 7211 0253
Fax: 020 7211 0163
E-mail: ray.wilson@ra.gsi.gov.uk

Further copies of the report can be obtained from the address/telephone number below:

Library & Information Service
Radiocommunications Agency
Wyndham House
189 Marsh Wall
London E14 9SX
Tel: 020 7211 0502/0505
Fax: 020 7211 0507

E-mail: library@ra.gsi.gov.uk
or website@ra.gsi.gov.uk

Introduction

Land Mobile Report March 2003

Land Mobile Report
March 2003