We are pleased to announce that on 1 June 2000 we welcomed the new Private Business Systems Unit Manager-Paul Jarvis. Paul joined us after spending a total of 18 years working in various positions at our monitoring station in Baldock. Here, Paul introduces himself.
| "I am pleased to take on the challenge of leading
Private Business Systems Unit to meet the demands of our customers. My background is from
the RA's Monitoring Station at Baldock where I gained experience in monitoring the use of
all civil radio spectrum. I bring to the post experience of many aspects of managing radio monitoring, covering virtually the entire spectrum in current use. This included leading and motivating teams in the development and operation of the accredited mobile emc measurement laboratories, unattended monitoring systems and the mobile monitoring vehicle. In turn the results lead to developing standards, strategies for resolving interference and contributing to development of enforcement procedures. I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming months and listening to the way you see our industry developing." |
 I bring to the post experience of many aspects of managing radio monitoring, covering virtually the entire spectrum in current use |
Good luck Paul, we hope you find working in Private Business Systems Unit both challenging and enjoyable. Paul can be emailed at: paul.jarvis@ra.gsi.gov.uk
On the 13th July 2000, our unified licensing IT system, RULES, was 1 year old.
A lot has happened in the year since "go live" and the hectic periods of User Acceptance Testing prior to the launch which changes was scheduled to enable the changes brought about by implementing Spectrum Pricing Phase 2.
The launch of RULES carried the licensing activities of the old RAMPS IT system which covered Private Business Systems, Public Networks and Maritime licences. Since its launch other Agency Business Units' licensing work has also been incorporated into RULES including the Test and Development licences and work of the Conformity Assessment Unit in December; this was later joined by Aircraft and Aeronautical Ground station licensing. This brings a total of 5 previously used IT systems now replaced and operated under RULES and work is currently underway in planning the introduction to RULES of the Space Services licence process, and the coupling of Space Services assignment tool to RULES. Progress is also being made in the Fixed Links area, with integration scheduled for Spring 2001and the initial phases of Broadcasting integration are also now at the planning stage.
Inevitably, with a project of this magnitude, problems have occurred and were reported in the Spring 2000 issue of PBR News.
Licence Renewal and Revocation
Recently, due to the changes to RULES necessary to facilitate the changes in legislation to implement Spectrum Pricing, delays have occurred in the licence renewal process. This has resulted in customers receiving renewal notices and reminders later than in previous years. We appreciate your patience whilst we continue to clear the backlog and expect to be 'back on track' by the end of September. Customers with a licence due for renewal in September 2000 should receive their renewal notice by the end of August 2000 and the renewal notices for licences due for renewal in October 2000 are scheduled for despatch in midSeptember 2000. The 'Intention to revoke' letters for licences due for renewal in July 2000, but not paid, will be sent out at the beginning of September 2000. Any customers who do not renew their licence on receipt of this letter will have their licence revoked and be informed, by letter at the end of September 2000, that this action has been taken. If you have any comments, suggestions or complaints regarding the RULES system or our renewal procedure, please contact David Cowie, the RULES System Manager on telephone: 020 7211 0189 or email:david.cowie@ra.gsi.gov.uk
As announced in the Winter 1999/2000 issue of 'PBR News,' the On-site Religious Observance service was introduced on 3 April 2000. The service authorises the transmission of one-way (base station to receivers) short messages for religious observance and call to prayer purposes and is open to all religious groups.
Systems are licensed by the On-site PBR Speech and Data systems licence so applications for licences should be made on the application form RA1.
On 30 June 2000 the Wide Area PBR one-way Paging and Speech Systems licence (formerly the Private Wide Area Paging licence) was closed to new religious observance and call to prayer systems. Existing systems are unaffected by these changes.
Electronic commerce or 'e-commerce' is now affecting most organisations and PBS Unit is no exception. The unit is currently taking the first steps towards making licences available electronically, known as 'e-licensing.'
On 30 March 2000 the Government launched a White Paper on Modernising Government. The White Paper sets out an agenda for modernising policy making, providing responsive and high quality services, the introduction and use of new technology to meet the needs of citizens and business, and harnessing public service staff as the agents of change.
The White Paper sets out a long-term programme of reform. However, there are a number of measures the Government plans to implement now, including making greater use of new technology and enabling 100% of dealings with government to be deliverable electronically by the year 2004. This means that by 2004 customers will be able to apply for licences on-line, via the Agency's website. We also have an interim target of making 25% of licences available electronically by the year 2002.
The electronic forms will be "intelligent" and so will force the applicant to complete mandatory parts of the form. Particular fields will have a mandatory type of entry e.g. numbers only will be able to be entered in the number of mobiles field. On-line help will also be available to assist customers with the completion of the forms.
E-Licensing should reduce the number of incomplete or incorrectly completed forms received by PBS, resulting in better licence issue turn-around-times and improved customer service.
Prototypes of PBR licence application forms are currently under development and 'PBR News' will keep you informed of progress as it made.
PBR Licences rationalised under Spectrum Pricing
Stage 3 of implementing Spectrum Pricing to PBR licences has recently been completed and a special edition 'PBR News' detailing the licence and fee changes has been distributed to all affected licensees.
This stage will, in the Private Business Radio sector, further contribute to the the Agency's continuing process of charging radio licences according to the value of radio spectrum.The changes were effective from 19 July 2000 with those licences involved being revoked shortly afterwards.
Incorporated in the implementation of Spectrum Pricing is a move to further rationalise the number of PBR licence classes and also create a new licence class for one-way paging only systems.
This has involved grouping together similar types of radio systems under one licence class. All holders of on-site paging, local communications, wide area paging, road construction or distress alarm licences should by now have received a copy of the special edition PBR News. If you are such a licensee and have not received your copy, please contact Sandra Howell on tel:020 7211 0201.
HQ Enquiry numbers for PBR licences:
| PBR Accounts : | Telephone 020 7211 0208/0209 | Fax 020 7211 0118 |
| Paging : | Telephone 020 7211 0200 | Fax 020 7211 0118 |
| PBR Suppliers : | Telephone 020 7211 0194 | Fax 020 7211 0507 |
| Short Range Business Radio : | Telephone 020 7211 0193/0204 | Fax 020 7211 0118 |
| Private Mobile Radio : | Telephone 020 7211 0197/0202 | Fax 020 7211 0118 |
| RA Enquiry Point : | Telephone 020 7211 0211 | Fax 020 7211 0507 |
Information sheet RA206 provides details of our Local Offices and the areas each office covers. Copies are available from our library on Tel: 020 7211 0505 / 0502, by email: library@ra.gsi.gov.uk or downloaded from the Agency's website: www.radio.gov.uk
As I'm sure many of you heard through the extensive media coverage, after two years of hard work, the Radiocommunications Agency staged its first auction of radio spectrum, the first in the world for third generation (3G).
The Radiocommunications Agency's 12-strong team of auctioneers, supported by 50 volunteers, raised over £22'billion when the 3G spectrum licences went under the hammer. The auction, which was launched on 6 March 2000 by Patricia Hewitt the Minister for Small Business and E-commerce, finished after eight weeks of bidding on 27 April 2000. Thirteen bidders, of which nine were potential new entrants to the UK mobile market, started the marathon auction for the five licences. The auction was a modified design of one used in the USA. Bidding for the licences took place in a sequence of rounds with bids submitted by fax to the RA's headquarters in London's Docklands. In each round, participants bid simultaneously for any one of the five licences with the largest, Licence A, being reserved for a new entrant. |
back row l-r:Warren Campbell, Ferbonia Williams |
| Licence A | TIW UMTS (UK) Limited | 2x15MHz paired spectrum plus 5MHz unpaired spectrum |
| Licence B | Vodaphone Limited | 2x15MHz paired spectrum |
| Licence C | BT (3G) Limited | 2x1OMHz paired spectrum plus 5MH unpaired spectrum |
| Licence D | One2One Personal Communications Limited | 2x1OMHz paired spectrum plus 5Mhz unpaired spectrum |
| Licence E | Orange 3G Limited | 2x1OMHz paired spectrum plus 5 MHz unpaired spectrum |
Patricia Hewitt announces |
The spectrum auction website: www.spectrumauctions.gov.uk proved to be very popular with up to 2million hits a day during the last few days of the auction. The website will now be expanded to encompass any other auctions that may take place in the future. Running the auction would not have been possible without the help of the volunteers from various Agency Business Units, CII, HM Treasury and OFTEL who acted as bidder contacts. Five members of Private Business Systems Unit (PBS) stepped into the role of either bidder contacts or managers; they were Kathy Leech (Customer Liaison unit dealing with customer account queries), Barbara Bill (Channel Planning section), Robert Chinnery (Customer Liaison Unit), Febornia William (placement student) and Warren Campbell (Engineering Unit). The PBS volunteers enjoyed being part of this unique experience and, as Barbara Bill explains, "It was exciting to see the auction progressing and be part of something so high profile receiving such huge attention from the media." Working on the auction also gave the volunteers the opportunity to meet colleagues from other Business Units learning more about the Agency's work which they feel has added value to their work in PBS. |
Private Business Sytems Unit has recently
been receiving an increasing number of requests to use PBR spectrum for the purpose of
Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) correction. A DGPS works in conduction with
a G166al Positioning System (GPS)as described and illustrated below and can provide highly
accurate position and timing information invaluable in many activities including
conducting land surveys or when requiring ambulance locations.
| The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a
collection of 24 earth-orbiting satellites. These satellites allow the user of a GPS
receiver to determine their longitude, latitude and altitude anywhere on the planet. A
Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is a method of providing differential
corrections to a GPS receiver in order to improve the accuracy of the navigation. DGPS
works by placing a high-performance GPS receiver (reference station) at a known location
and DGPS corrections originate from the reference station. The receivers in these
reference stations can estimate errors in the GPS because, unlike the general population
of GPS receivers, they have an accurate knowledge of their position. The GPS receiver
measures ranges to each satellite, but before the measurements are used to calculate
position, corrections received from the DGPS receiver are applied to the measurements. The
position is then calculated using the corrected range measurements providing vastly
increased accuracy. As a result of applying DGPS corrections, the horizontal accuracy of
the system can be improved, 95% of the time, from 100m to better than 10m. More importantly, the reference stations provide integrity monitoring, warning users to disregard a satellite which is operating outside of specification. With DGPS correction, this warning happens within a few seconds of the satellite becoming 'unhealthy', compared to GPS warnings where some hours can elapse. The Agency recognised that the use of PBR for this type of commercial facility should be on a'clean'channel to avoid potential interference with other radio systems. Therefore a VHF low band channel (base tx: 82.63750 & mob tx:69.13750) has been allocated for the purpose of DGPS correction using PBR, and the installation and use of such systems must be licensed under either an On-site PBR Licence or Wide Area PBR Licence depending on the coverage area required. Customers wishing to operate a DGPS correction system using this PBR channel should apply, giving full details of the proposed system, to their usual licensing centre in writing or by e-mail. |
 |
 David Hendon Chief Executive |
Following the success of previous 'Chief Executive's Roadshows,' some of the Agency's senior executives, including our Chief Executive, David Hendon, are once again preparing to take to the road in order to meet you, our customers to discuss current and future, policy issues affecting the use of the radio spectrum and to exchange views on the ever-changing world of radiocommunications. This year's event is called 'Joining in: the continuing debate about the use (and abuse) of the radio spectrum'. You may recognise some of this year's panel which, in addition to David Hendon, comprises Mike Goddard, Director of our Spectrum and International Policy Executive; Hazel Canter, Director of our Spectrum Services Executive which includes PBS unit and Barry Maxwell, Director of our Customer Services Executive which incorporates the work of our local offices, Baldock Monitoring Station and RTCG. In addition, staff from our Local Offices will be in attendance and, for the first time, delegates will have the opportunity to meet them on a one-to-one basis during the afternoon. As in previous years, the tour will take place in the Autumn at ten different venues around the UK. The programme will begin at 10am and run to 2:30pm with lunch being provided. Each panel member will deliver a presentation on issues currently having an impact on the work of their Directorate and, following the presentations, there will be plenty of time for you to ask questions. Attendance is free and open to everyone involved with radiocommunications including all licensees regardless of licence type although we do ask you to book in advance so that catering can be arranged accordingly. Therefore, you should find enclosed with this issue of PBR News an invitation and registration card which can be photocopied for additional delegates as required. The registration card includes a section for you to pre-book a personal consultation, over lunch with one of our Local Office staff, to discuss an issue of interest to you or perhaps something that is concerning you. Our research shows that audiences at previous events have found them highly valuable. Places at the 'Joining in' events are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis, so reserve your place as soon as possible. As David Hendon says: "With so much happening in the world of radio, it is more important than ever to be joining in the debate."
|
 Mike Goddard Spectrum & International Policy Director |
|
 Hazel Canter Spectrum Services Director |
|
 Barry Maxwell Customer Services Director |
The Agency has recently set up a 'Customer Panel' in each of the 8 local licensing centres with the purpose of providing a forum for direct, face-to-face, communication between the Agency's local staff and customers. These forums contribute to our Modernising Government programme by encouraging more open and closer communication with our customers.
As Barry Maxwell, Director of our Customer Services Executive, sums up: "At our Headquarters, we have a well defined structure for consultations at a strategic level, and on a day to day level the Agency's local staff are in regular contact with users. However, the gap that we are attempting to bridge is the need for a more structured consultative mechanism to get across our policies at local level, and just as importantly, to listen to the views of dealers, public and private sector users and others who are affected by our work."
The intention is to hold a couple of Panel meetings each year and the agenda will be set just as much by the customer representatives as it will by the Agency.
Customer Panels enable Agency staff and customers to share views in a small, relaxed forum and, as Barry explains, "the meetings have been enormously constructive, frank and very open with all the points that have been raised being published on our Website so that anyone can see the issues that are exciting the attention of our customers."
These meetings also provide an excellent opportunity for the Agency to open the doors of our local offices to show the Panel members our equipment, licensing arrangements, propagation prediction tools and the vehicles that we use. The Customer Panel days also incorporate lunch so that the panellists can mingle with our staff and each other.
Positive feedback has been received from both Agency staff and panellists and the general feeling from previous meetings is that they gave an excellent two-way opportunity for closer dialogue and a better understanding of each others' views.
A wide and diverse range of issues were raised and discussed at the various meetings around the country. A summary of the issues covered has therefore been prepared, so if you would like to find our more about what was discussed during the meeting of the Customer Panels, visit our website at: www.radio.gov.uk/about/region/cust_pan/cus_inx.htm
As you will know, until recently our Local Office structure was divided into 5 regions, each covering a part of the UK. However in January 2000 it was decided, in line with the Government's requirements regarding the devolved administrations, that a sixth region should be set up to cover Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
This change has been made mainly to consolidate management arrangements within the Agency for the devolved regions. Local licensing contacts will remain the same in these regions and you should see no significant changes in your routine dealings with your normal Local Office contacts.
At the time of making these changes, it was also decided to transfer the responsibility of two postcode areas to a different office. The areas are Brighton (BN) and Redhill (RH) and with effect from 1 April 2000 customers in these areas have been dealing with our Region 5 office in Kenley, Surrey.
Please note that the Agency's information sheet that details the work of our Local Offices (RA206) has been recently revised to reflect these changes. The document is available from our information and library service by telephoning 020 7211 0502 0505 or by email: library@ra.gsi.gov.uk.
This, and all other publications produced by the Agency can also be downloaded from our website: www.radio.gov.uk
Enforcement Statistics
The charts below illustrate the number of discrepancies found during inspections conducted around the UK on PBR equipment during Q2 of 2000 (April - June).
| New Systems: | Existing Systems: | ||
| Number of inspections | 423 | Number of inspections | 85 |
| Number of discrepancies | 74 | Number of discrepancies | 34 |
| Percentage of discrepancies | 17% | Percentage of discrepancies | 40% |
Enforcement work in the PBR sector for this quarter included two successful prosecutions.
 |
 |
| 1 = | North East England | 5 = | Wales |
| 2 = | Scotland | 6 = | South West England |
| 3 = | Northern Ireland | 7 = | Midlands & East Anglia |
| 4 = | North West England | 8 = | London & South East |
Private Business Radio News
Radiocommunications Agency
11G/10F, Wyndham House
189 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SX
Editor: Corrie Humphrey
Production: Kevin Delaney and Ann Gooch
Telephone: 020 7211 0187
Fax: 020 7211 0118
E-mail address: pbrnews@ra.gsi.gov.uk
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