450-470MHz Band Re-alignment Project - September 2001

Who is in the 450-470MHz band?

The 450-470MHz band re-alignment project will affect several types of radio use. Programme making, on site private mobile radio, wide area private mobile radio, telemetry, public paging and private wide area paging. These are used for a variety of business activities such as taxis, broadcasting, medical, retail, transport, construction, education, banking, security, utilities, government and leisure.

Why are we re-aligning the 450-470MHz band?

Within the 450-470MHz band there is very little scope to allow new technology to be introduced or to allow existing systems to expand. To address these issues it is necessary to bring the use of frequencies in this band into line with a common European plan. This will produce significant benefits, primarily; the structure of the band will match that used on the continent leading to economies of scale in equipment. In addition, the spare capacity created will allow existing systems to develop and grow, it will be easier to introduce pan-European digital technology and continental interference levels will be substantially reduced.

What do we mean by re-alignment?

In the UK base transmit is generally at the bottom of the band (<460MHz) and mobile transmit is at the top of the band (>460MHz). In Europe the frequencies are the other way round. The duplex spacing between the mobile and base transmit frequencies are also different. In Europe the duplex spacing is generally 10MHz, but in the UK there are many different spacings e.g. 14MHz, 6.5MHz, 5.5MHz etc.

Current status of the project

A draft band plan has been drawn up by Stephen Limb (RA project manager) which describes how existing assignments could be re-aligned. It is currently being considered by a contracted company (TCI) to find out if, at this stage, the plan can be optimised in any way. This is a time consuming process as a bespoke computer programme has had to be written especially for this purpose, but it is expected that this study will be completed by October 2001.

A questionnaire is being sent to users in the band at the end of September 2001 asking for information on the technical and financial implications of re-alignment to business. Meetings will be arranged with businesses and site visits made in order to gain a better understanding of the effects of re-alignment. The results from the questionnaire and one to one interviews will be available in early 2002. This will be used for cost benefit analysis and will help determine the best way to proceed with the re-alignment project.

A private mobile radio (PMR) demand study is also being carried out. Private mobile radio uses a large part of the 450-470MHz band and the demand study will give a guide to the future of PMR in all bands. This will also give us valuable information for planning re-alignment, as re-alignment will create great opportunities for technological growth and expansion, the demand study will tell us how quickly this is needed.

It is necessary that we allow time for these studies to be carried out in order to get the re-alignment process correct. Until these studies have been completed we are unable to confirm the proposed band plan for re-alignment. The next step will be to consult on the proposed band plan in Spring 2002 with a view to implementing the final band plan by 2005.

The timetable outlined above is slower than originally anticipated due to our continuing deepening of knowledge and understanding of the complex nature of the project. Over 9,000 customers need to be consulted on the implications of altering or replacing their existing equipment and a number of larger customers have estimated huge costs in changing frequencies. Whilst the project is very much a priority for the Agency it is vital that thorough consultation takes place and that the implications of the changes are fully understood.