Land Mobile Radio Licensing and Channel Statistics Report for 2001

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, which is produced annually, provides information on licensed private business radio (PBR) services as at 31 December 2000, and the numbers of radios operating under these licences. 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 2000. The tables in Part 1 provide a breakdown of licensing data by various licence and business use categories. Additional data is provided this year showing the number of PBR frequency assignments and mobiles in each of the land mobile radio bands.

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 data operator services, radio paging (standard), local communications, short range business radio and wide area paging.

PART 1: Private Business Radio Statistics

Wide Area Private Business Radio Licences

NUMBER OF LICENCES AT 31 DECEMBER 2000

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 1999 totals	3205 3661	907 951	384 400	59 48	21 25	2 2	2 2	0 0	4580 5089
UK General 1999 totals	2463 2879	339 352	113 127	28 28	21 24	9 16	5 4	6 4	2984 3434
Taxis & Private Car Hire 1999 totals	4256 4916	1735 1804	846 749	169 150	69 61	22 22	2 0	2 1	7101 7703
Motor / Pedal Cycle Despatch 1999 totals	40 57	69 93	63 96	22 22	16 18	3 3	0 0	0 0	213 289
Local & Central Government 1999 totals	421 490	292 306	340 414	219 227	136 149	50 53	12 8	1 0	1471 1647
Ambulance & General Medical 1999 totals	171 196	112 107	36 34	12 12	6 5	1 3	0 1	1 0	339 358
Water Industry 1999 totals	16 14	41 39	41 41	27 26	4 4	2 2	0 0	0 0	131 126
Gas, electricity, coal & nuclear 1999 totals	19 33	19 20	15 17	14 13	8 12	3 7	14 7	12 20	104 129
Bus & Coach Operators 1999 totals	5 3	7 7	13 11	10 12	20 19	8 8	4 4	3 3	70 67
Protected Service Users 1999 totals	104 120	90 85	17 19	16 15	10 10	4 4	1 1	1 2	243 256
'Other' Users 1999 totals	19 15	11 9	3 3	1 0	3 1	0 0	0 0	0 0	37 28
TOTAL 1999 TOTAL	10719 12384	3622 3773	1871 1911	577 553	314 328	104 120	40 27	26 30	17273 19126

NUMBER OF MOBILES AT 31 DECEMBER 2000

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 Mobiles in Category
Wide Area Shared 1999 totals	22530 25579	16723 17504	15267 16090	4526 3795	2778 3467	630 630	1250 1250	0 0	63704 68315
UK General 1999 totals	15341 17632	6402 6731	4576 5201	2352 2322	3264 3585	2580 4751	3054 2649	12017 6724	49586 49595
Taxis & Private Car Hire 1999 totals	30764 35707	35283 37154	36487 33106	14426 12757	10273 8978	5670 5658	1200 0	5500 2500	139603 135860
Motor / Pedal Cycle Despatch 1999 totals	339 461	1481 1945	2822 4355	1885 1850	2515 2685	840 840	0 0	0 0	9882 12136
Local & Central Government 1999 totals	2615 2994	5352 5596	14499 18094	17988 18875	18752 20339	15027 15753	7593 4585	1200 0	83026 86236
Ambulance & General Medical 1999 totals	1109 1251	1855 1767	1415 1354	940 940	808 613	250 850	0 1000	1120 0	7497 7775
Water Industry 1999 totals	94 77	829 797	1851 1851	2190 2080	576 576	692 682	0 0	0 0	6232 6063
Gas, electricity, coal & nuclear 1999 totals	114 125	321 342	612 684	1162 1109	1276 1726	1252 2330	10064 5696	15445 29335	30246 41347
Bus & Coach Operators 1999 totals	32 30	131 131	528 428	892 1057	2946 2781	2260 2240	3099 3099	10284 10284	20172 20050
Protected Service Users 1999 totals	350 764	1728 1623	712 797	1272 1228	1514 1455	1230 1247	639 639	2000 5281	9445 13034
'Other' Users 1999 totals	124 93	171 143	123 123	95 0	416 168	0 0	0 0	0 0	929 527
TOTAL 1999 TOTAL	73412 84713	70276 73733	78892 82083	47728 46013	45118 46373	30431 34981	26899 18918	47566 54124	420322 440938

Notes:

1. 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 on page 7 and there is a breakdown of assignments by frequency band on page 6.
2. 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.
3. "UK General" covers use of handportables/mobiles anywhere in the United Kingdom (no base stations are permitted except under exceptional circumstance). The government, medical, utilities and protected service categories data above includes 378 "UK General" licences (12,753 mobiles).
4. "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).

On-Site Private Business Radio Licences

NUMBER OF LICENCES AT 31 DECEMBER 2000

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) 1999 totals	15858 17366	3979 3566	1050 935	126 126	32 24	12 10	2 0	1 0	21060 22027
Local & Central Government 1999 totals	1273 1329	236 228	72 63	5 9	4 2	1 1	0 0	0 0	1591 1632
Ambulance & General Medical 1999 totals	639 666	149 137	26 23	0 0	1 1	0 0	0 0	0 0	815 827
Water Industry 1999 totals	126 125	20 20	2 6	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 0	148 151
Gas, electricity, coal & nuclear 1999 totals	278 294	73 79	53 45	23 16	6 5	0 0	0 0	0 0	433 439
Protected Service Users 1999 totals	413 479	49 59	6 13	0 1	0 0	0 0	1 1	1 1	470 554
'Other' Users 1999 totals	139 181	76 96	56 66	9 7	0 1	0 1	1 2	0 0	281 354
TOTAL 1999 TOTAL	18726 20440	4582 4185	1265 1151	163 159	43 33	13 12	4 3	2 1	24798 25984

NUMBER OF MOBILES AT 31 DECEMBER 2000

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 Mobiles in Category
Single & Dual Frequency (general) 1999 totals	94118 100457	69746 62145	40183 35773	10091 10067	4888 3558	3555 2934	1388 0	1500 0	225469 214934
Local & Central Government 1999 totals	7400 7680	4042 3815	2734 2398	372 703	654 304	293 293	0 0	0 0	15495 15193
Ambulance & General Medical 1999 totals	3471 3632	2512 2292	914 834	0 0	120 120	0 0	0 0	0 0	7017 6878
Water Industry 1999 totals	647 628	314 314	56 248	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 0	1017 1190
Gas, electricity, coal & nuclear 1999 totals	1388 1487	1217 1280	2028 1871	1900 1219	819 798	0 0	0 0	0 0	7352 6655
Protected Service Users 1999 totals	2102 2316	787 924	202 509	0 70	0 0	0 0	950 950	1567 1567	5608 6336
'Other' Users 1999 totals	768 1017	1295 1673	2241 2681	749 531	0 121	0 375	750 1350	0 0	5803 7748
TOTAL 1999 TOTAL	109894 117217	79913 72443	48358 44314	13112 12590	6481 4901	3848 3602	3088 2300	3067 1567	267761 258934

1. 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 on page 7 and there is a breakdown of assignments by frequency band on page 6.
2. 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.
3. "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).

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

NATIONAL EXCLUSIVE PBR CHANNELS Total channels Total licences 127 13 (Licensees also use non-exclusive Channels)	EXCLUSIVE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CHANNELS Total channels Total licences 32 46 (mainly ambulance)
ON-SITE RADIO PAGING Total licences 9616	LOCAL COMMUNICATIONS Total licences 1946
SUPPLIERS LICENCE Total licences 480	ROAD CONSTRUCTION Total licences 13
SHORT RANGE BUSINESS RADIO (PAGING) Total licences 216	DISTRESS ALARMS Total licences 12
WIDE AREA PAGING (PRIVATE SYSTEMS) Total licences 341	POLICE AND FIRE Total licences 116

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	126
On-site shared PBR	8	0
PBR National channel users	3	71
PBR Exclusive channel users	5	6
UK General	5	0
Short Term Hire / Parking and Demonstration	0	1
Parking and Demonstration	0	1
Road Construction	0	1
Reserved for particular uses	0	10
No assignments at present / unavailable at present	10	78
Total channels:	34	294

Mid Band 139.51250 - 165.04375 MHz	Single	Dual
Wide area shared PBR1 (including data dominant and data only channels)	0	22
On-site shared PBR	10	0
PBR National channel users	7	86
UK General	2	0
Short Term Hire	0	8
Short Term Hire (construction only)	0	3
Parking and Demonstration	0	1
Road Construction	0	5
Reserved for particular uses	0	2
No assignments at present	4	11
Total channels:	23	138

Notes
¹ Includes 7 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	185
On-site shared PBR	31	5
PBR National channel users	11	45
UK General	5	0
Short Term Hire	4	0
Parking and Demonstration	0	1
Road Construction	0	1
Total channels:	51	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 Operator Networks	0	95
Sub Band 3 209.20625 - 215.26875 MHz Reserved for Private Operators Reserved for Private Operators (6.25 kHz channels)	0 0	40 80
Total channels:	0	361

UHF 1 425.00625 - 449.49375 MHz	Single	Dual
(only available in certain major conurbations - national channels excepted)
Wide area shared PBR	7	75
On-site shared PBR (10 of the singles available nationally)	43	61
PBR National channel users	1	10
PBR exclusive channel users	12	55
Parking and Demonstration	0	1
Reserved for particular uses	4	8
No assignments at present	27	0
Total channels:	94	210

UHF 2 453.00625 - 462.49375 MHz	Single	Dual
Wide area shared PBR	1	13
On-site shared PBR	56	25
PBR National channel users	0	42
PBR exclusive channel users	1	2
PBR exclusive channel users (available in London & SE only)	0	6
UK General	3	0
Short Term Hire	1	3
Parking and Demonstration	0	1
Short Range Business Radio	3	0
Limited availability channels (PBR use at airports only)	0	31
Split dual frequency channels1	0	23
Reserved for particular uses	6	40
Total channels:	71	186

Notes
¹ The receive and transmit legs of the split duals are now used as single frequency channels 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 Data Operator systems

Band I 55.75000 - 68.00000 MHz	Single	Dual
(Band I channels will be made available to CBS & PBR services) No assignments at present	0	380
Total channels:	0	380

Low Band 68.08125 - 87.49375 MHZ	Single	Dual
Common Base Stations	0	45
Total channels:	0	45

Mid Band 139.51250 - 165.04375 MHz	Single	Dual
Common Base Stations	0	85
National Public Data Operators	1	25
Total channels:	1	110

High Band 165.04375 - 173.09375 MHz	Single	Dual
Common Base Stations	0	20
Total channels:	0	20

BAND III Sub Bands 1 - 3	Single	Dual
Sub Band 1 177.20625 - 191.49375 MHz
Public Operator Networks	0	86
Public Operator Networks / Common Base Stations	0	147
Common Base Stations (including reserved channels)	0	35
National Public Data Operators	0	49
Asset Tracking Network	0	6
Reserved channels	0	25
Sub Band 2 193.20625 - 207.49375 MHz
Public Operator Networks	0	401
No assignments at present	0	7
Sub Band 3 209.20625 - 215.26875 MHz
Reserved for Common Base Stations	0	40
No assignments at present (6.25 kHz channels)	0	80
Total channels:	0	876

UHF 1 425.00625 - 449.49375 MHz	Single	Dual
(only available in certain major conurbations - national channels excepted)
Common Base Stations	0	133
Common Base Stations (Reserved)	0	10
National Public Data Operators (includes 14 national channels)	0	21
Total channels:	0	164

UHF 2 453.00625 - 462.49375 MHz	Single	Dual
National Public Data Operators	0	20
Total channels:	0	20

3 Spectrum available for use by Radio Paging (Standard & Short Term Hire), Local Communications and Short Range Business Radio (Paging Service) systems

BANDS

HF
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 kHz channels)
461. 29375 - 461. 30625 MHz

Channel Category	Single	Dual
Radio Paging (Standard)	70	51
Radio Paging (Short Term Hire)	4	0
Local Communications	0	106
Short Range Business Radio (Paging Service)	1	0
Total channels:	75	157

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
No assignments at present (test and development use on one channel)	2	0
169.41250 - 169.81250 MHz (25.0 kHz channels)
Public systems	2	0
No assignments at present	14	0
UHF	Single	Dual
449.09375 - 449.11875 MHz (25.0 kHz channels)
Public systems	1	0
454.01250 - 454.83750 MHz (25.0 kHz channels)
Public systems	1	0
Private systems	14	0
Shared channels (public and private systems)	2	0
Reserved for particular uses	2	0
No assignments at present (test and development use on one channel)	10	0
466.06250 - 466.08750 MHz (25.0 kHz channels)
Public Systems	1	0
Total channels (VHF & UHF):	73	0

5 Summary of Spectrum Available to Private Business Radio, Public Access Mobile Radio, Common Base Station & National Public Data Operator Systems

Band

Dual Frequency Channels