Transcript Business Radio Reform FCS Regional Conference – Perth

Business Radio
Business Radio Reform
FCS Regional Conference – Perth (Scotland)
25 June 2008
Mostafa Relmy and Nigel Gunn
Agenda – FCS Regional Conference
• Section 1 – Background on BR Trading and Liberalisation
• Section 2: New Licensing approach for Business Radio categories
• Section 3 – Pricing for the New Products
• Section 4 – Next step – Timescales
• Section 5 – The Spectrum Management System – MASTS
• Section 6 – Gaining Access to Spectrum
• Section 7 – Q & A
1
Where we are
So far…
Trading
 Introduced at end of 2004 to c900
licences
BR: National and Regional PMR, Analogue
PAMR, National Paging, Data Networks and
CBS
 Around 20-30 trades per annum – 12
larger licences have changed hands
through trading
Liberalisation
 Progressive removal of restrictions on
technology and usage
BR: Ability to change between classes
Coming up…
Trading
 Extension of trading to other licence
classes (including licences in UHF1)
 Over 50,000 licences to be fully tradable
 Introduction of geographical and spectrum
partitioning to national licence types
Simplification and Liberalisation
 Introduction of 3 new and flexible licence
types (Area Defined, Technically Assigned
and Light Licence)
 Minimum technical conditions to prevent
harmful interference
 New transparent fee structures
2
Business Radio trading and liberalisation policy
• Consulted on July 06 on BR trading & liberalisation measures and pricing
• Issued the statement on 10th January 07 – BR T&L and pricing
• Statutory Notice (Trading, Register and Charging regulation) published on the 9th June
2008 (will be closed on the 10th July 2008)
3
Liberalisation Phase 2 - BRR
Key benefits to end users
• Replacing 21 different types of licence with three simple licence categories – Removing
current restriction on the type of business use and technology – Minimum technical
restriction will remain to protect against harmful interference;
• Moving 15,000 licences to 5 year licence term, low flat fee, simple process and eapplication;
• About 50,000 licences to be tradable and flexible;
• Improved assignment process to over 40,000 assignments;
• Moving from a complex structure to a simplified transparent structure for fee scales –
over 95 % of licences fees will reduce or stay the same.
4
Business Radio – Simplification, Trading, Liberalisation and pricing proposals
21 Licence classes
•6 licence classes
•Large exclusive area – UK/nations – not
explicitly defied
•Different incentive pricing methods
•Some tradable
Area defined
•One single flexible licence
•Geographical boundaries well defined
•Clear definition of emissions rights
•Geographical segmentation to a minimum of 50 km
grid squares enabling partial trades
•Greater licence flexibility
•Single, simple and transparent fees – based on
national rate (£ 1.65/MHz/km2 ) and using population
to apportion the national rate.
•Single business process
•Improve spectrum efficiency
•On line application.
•10 licence classes with over 50 business types
•Assignment process relies on local knowledge
•Inconsistencies and uncertainties in assignment
quality
•Not tradable
•5 licence products which are either prepackaged or lightly managed
•Different type of use
•Different incentive pricing
Technically assigned
•One single flexible licence
•Assignment and changes to licence characteristics
validated by MASTS
•Changes of business use, type of use (ie paging/data)
number of mobiles without Ofcom consent (no change to
the licence conditions)
•Single, simple and transparent fees – based on national
rate (£ 1.65/MHz/Km2), use population to apportion the
national rate and sterilised area (use of ERP power and
antenna height as a proxy foe base station deployment and
radius for operational area)
•Tradable
•On line application
Light licence
•Single set of equipment
requirements
•Single application process
•Larger pool of available
frequencies
•5 years payment period
•Tradable
•On line application
5
Agenda – FCS Regional Conference
• Section 1 – Background on BR Trading and Liberalisation
• Section 2: New Licensing approach for Business Radio categories
• Section 3 – Pricing for the New Products
• Section 4 – Next step – Timescales
• Section 5 – The Spectrum Management System – MASTS
• Section 6 – Gaining Access to Spectrum
• Section 7 – Q & A
6
Area Defined Licence
BR Area Defined Licence Design
BR Area Defined Licence
Spectral boundaries
•Operating frequency
•Channel spacing
Geographical boundaries
•National borders and/or
grid reference squares to
capture the geographical
operating area.
•Maximum power (ERP)
•Emissions limits – IR 2044*
•Pre-defined “Trading
units” with associated fee.
•Spectral power density
Field
strength of – 116
dBm/12.5 kHz
at and beyond
geographical boundary.
•Compliance with relevant
national & international
co-ordination/MoUs
Fees
•National fee rate to remain at
£9 900 for 2x12.5kHz channel
•Fees for trading units based
on population
• Three bands categorisations
•Fee adjustment to reflect
spectrum use (minimum
licence fee will apply)
* IR 2044 to be updated to include 6.25 kHz (reference to ETSI standard) and IR 2008
(Will be a 3 months public consultation through the EC)
7
Area Defined licence
“Trading units”
We proposed dividing national licences into
pre-defined “trading units” based
on National Grid Reference Squares
•
Licensee can partially trade this;
•
These pre-defined area can be easily communicated to Ofcom
and remove the complexity, ambiguity, and confusion that
arises from complex geographical boundaries;
•
Each unit has a pre-defined licence fee (based on population);
•
3 Population categories
– High population (Red) – above 3 M
– Medium population (Dark blue) – between 300,000 and 3
M
– Low population (Light blue) – up to 300,000
8
Technically Assigned Licence - MASTS
BR Technically Assigned Licence Design
Technically Assigned Licence
Spectral boundaries
•Operating frequency
Geographical boundaries
•Designated Service Area
calculated by MASTS
•Channel spacing
•Emissions limits – IR 2044*
•Transmission parameters (inc.
ERP and Antenna Height)
•Assignment Type: Shared
or Exclusive
•Trading Right –
Assignment Parameters.
•Designated Service Area
- Predicted coverage area
calculated using ITU-R
P.1546-3 of
– 104dBm/12.5 kHz
(sterilised area of 116dBm/12.5 kHz)
•Comply with relevant
national & international
co-ordination/MoUs
* IR 2044 to be updated to include 6.25 kHz (reference to ETSI standard) and IR 2008
(Will be a 3 months public consultation through the EC)
Fees
•National fee rate to remain at £
9 900
•Proxies (devised from typical
ERP and antenna heights AGL)
used for fee categories
(6,30,60km sterilised area)
•Band modifiers for less usage
bands (MUB – 0.833 and LUB –
0.333)
•Reduction of 50% if a shared
assignment
•Fee adjustment to reflect
spectrum use (minimum licence
fee will apply)
9
Light Licence category
Proposals for collapsing on site and pre-packaged licence classes
New
Current
On site local communications
Light category
On site one way paging
Self Select
Suppliers
light Licence
Simple UK
licence
(No Base Station)
Simple site
Licence
(Base Station)
UK General
Suppliers
Generic licence conditions
Maximum 15 m antenna height AGL
Maximum base ERP 2 Watts, mobile ERP 5 Watts (25 Watts for
suppliers)
Licence schedule specifies the channels available
One fee
No interference / non protection basis
10
Agenda – FCS Regional Conference
• Section 1 – Background on BR Trading and Liberalisation
• Section 2: New Licensing approach for Business Radio categories
• Section 3 – Pricing for the New Products
• Section 4 – Next step – Timescales
• Section 5 – The Spectrum Management System – MASTS
• Section 6 – Gaining Access to Spectrum
• Section 7 – Q & A
11
Licence Fee Approach
Area Defined Licence:
 Keeping AIP at £ 9,900 per 2 x 12.5 kHz national channel
 Apportion the national channel rate in proportion to the population within the nations (Wales,
England, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
 UK to be divided into pre-defined “trading units” of 50 km × 50 km - Population within trading unit
measured and categorised into three categories (High, medium and low population) with a fee for
each category of trading unit applied based on an apportionment of national rate.
 The bands types (HUB, MUB and LUB) - 0.83333 band factor for MUB and 0.333 for LUB
Technically Assigned Licence
 Specified three categories of population – High, Medium and Low – Same as area licence
 Used technical proxies (power and antenna height – for base station and radius for operational
area) for coverage (6,30 and 60 km Radius).
 Power (high power generally deny service to other over a greater area).
 Antenna height (higher antenna usually sterilised a large area.)
 Shared use – shared assignment will attract a 0.5 of the exclusive assignment full rate.
Light Licence
 Fees will be charged at a much simpler rate to reflect new on-demand regime. Our fee proposal is
£ 75 per 5 years - per site or per licence (for non base station deployment).
Please note that the Charging/Fee Regulations for Business Radio will be for 1 x 6.25 kHz spectrum
– This is to support greater flexibilities
12
Categorisations for BR fee charging
1. Bands categorisation for Area Defined and
Technically Assigned licences
Band categorisations
Bands
High usage bands – category A
High band; UHF1 and UHF2
Medium usage bands -Category B
Mid Band and Band III
Least usage bands – Category C
Band 1, Low Band and Paging
2. Coverage categorisation for Technically Assigned licences
Coverage categorisation
Radius in Km – Power (ERP - Watts) and
operational area Antenna (m)
Category 1 – Including
indoor/underground
antenna use - Dowfire or
leaky feeder antenna type
0<R≤3
P ≤ 5 and Ah ≤ 10
3 < R ≤ 15
P ≤ 5 and 10< Ah ≤ 30
P> 5 and Ah ≤ 10m
15 < R ≤ 30
P> 5 and Ah > 10
P ≤ 5 and Ah > 30
3. Assignments type categorisation for Technically Assigned licences Category 2
Current product
Exclusive or
shared
Analogue PAMR
Common Base Stations
Exclusive
Band 1 and Band III CBS
IR2008 Data
Wide Area One-Way Paging and Speech
Systems
Category 3
4. Population categorisation for Area Defined and
Technically Assigned licences
•Red colour – High population
•Blue – Medium population
•Light blue – Low population
Shared
Remote Meter Reading Operator-Shared
channels
Wide Area Distress Alarms
On Site Hospital Paging / Emergency Speech
Systems
Wide Area Speech and Data Systems
Shared*
On-Site Speech and Data Systems
13
Licence Fee for Area Defined Licence for a 2 x 12.5 kHz channel
Area
Fee (£) for high usage Fee (£) for medium
bands (HUB)
usage bands (MUB)
Fee (£) for less
Usage Bands (LUB)
UK
9900
8250
3300
England
8275
6895
2758
Wales
490
410
163
Scotland
855
710
285
Northern Ireland
280
235
93
Trading unit within high
population category
1185
990
395
Trading unit within medium
population category
150
125
50*
Trading unit within low
population category
14*
12*
5*
* minimum £ 75 licence fee
14
Technically Assigned Licence Class Fee (£) for a
2x12.5kHz channel
Band
Population
categorisation category
High Usage
Bands
Medium Usage
Bands
Less Usage
Bands
Coverage Category 1
Coverage Category 2
Coverage Category 3
Exclusive
Shared
Exclusive
Shared
Exclusive
Shared
A (High)
200
100
740
370
1480
740
B (Medium)
100
75
200
100
300
150
C (Low)
75
75
95
75
110
75
A (High)
100
75
370
185
740
370
B (Medium)
85
75
170
85
250
125
C (Low)
75
75
80
75
90
75
A (High)
B (Medium)
75
C (Low)
For TDMA – IR 2008 the fee will be 1/8 of the technically assigned
licence fee for each timeslot – minimum licence fee £ 75 applies
15
Example of a fee calculation for a Technically Assigned
Licence - 1
Categorisation type
Category – New fee calculation
Spectrum quantity
1
Band
Medium usage band (Mid band)
Antenna height (above ground
level): 4 metres
Coverage
Category 2
Base station location: TQ 300 800
Population
High population (A)
Assignment type
Exclusive
Current licence technical
parameters
Bandwidth: 2 x 12.5 kHz channel
Base frequency: 164 MHz
ERP power: 25 Watts
CBS licence class
16
Example of a fee calculation for a Technically Assigned
Licence - 2
Band
Population
categorisation category
High Usage
Bands
Medium Usage
Bands
Less Usage
Bands
Coverage Category 1
Coverage Category 2
Coverage Category 3
Exclusive
Shared
Exclusive
Shared
Exclusive
Shared
A (High)
200
100
740
370
1480
740
B (Medium)
100
75
200
100
300
150
C (Low)
75
75
95
75
110
75
A (High)
100
75
370
185
740
370
B (Medium)
85
75
170
85
250
125
C (Low)
75
75
80
75
90
75
A (High)
B (Medium)
75
C (Low)
For TDMA – IR 2008 the fee will be 1/8 of the technically assigned
licence fee for each time slot – minimum licence fee £ 75 applies
17
Licence fee - Mitigations
• Change licence product
– Light licence - £ 75 / 5 years
– Area Defined – Multi sites / share spectrum
– Licence exempt PMR/DMR 446
• ERP power
• Antenna Height (AGL)
• Base station location – Outside the high population/medium population
• Size of area – Operational area
• Frequency band – 0.8333 (Medium usage band) – 0.33 (Less usage band)
• Antenna
– use – Indoor
– Type – Downfire / leaky feeder
• Assignment type
– Shared (50 % reduction)
18
Agenda – FCS Regional Conference
• Section 1 – Background on BR Trading and Liberalisation
• Section 2: New Licensing approach for Business Radio categories
• Section 3 – Pricing for the New Products
• Section 4 – Next step – Timescales
• Section 5 – The Spectrum Management System – MASTS
• Section 6 – Gaining Access to Spectrum
• Section 7 – Q & A
19
Getting there – key work items
IT System
Major development of a new IT platform (Unify) including
development of an advanced new licensing and spectrum
management system. BRR highly dependent on the delivery of
the new system
Regulations
Consultation and statement on the Trading, Register and Fee
Regulations to give legal effect of the policy changes
Variation
Process to move over 50,000 licences to the new licence
classes
Data cleansing
Update technical data following customers interaction
Documentation
Revision and development of documents to support the changes
Communication
Keeping our stakeholders updated on the progress and time
scale
20
Next Steps
1. Currently we are consulting on the Statutory Notice – Published on the 9th June 2008 and will be
closed on the 10th July 2008 – We are consulting on making the following regulations in order to
introduce the BRR changes:
–
–
–
WT trading regulations - to extend trading, specify the permitted modes of trading and the
procedure to be followed;
WT register regulations - to extend the coverage of the WT register so as to the publication of
information on all tradable licences;
WT licence charges regulations - to give effect to the new fee rates for the new licence
products. Also include transitional arrangements for existing licensees to move to the revised
fees.
We expect the regulations to be in place by the end of August 08
2. Ofcom variation – BRR – vary new licences into the new licence products
3. Also Ofcom will
•
•
Publish all supporting documents (IR,TFAC, licensing documents (new application form and
WT Act licence documents, Licensing policy manual, trading and liberalisation guidance
notes,….)
We are in the progress of finalising the IS Unify/SMS Business Radio phase (incorporating
MASTS algorithm).
21
Indicative approach for BRR
Late 2008
IS
Regulations
Statement
with final
regulations
Consultation
on draft
regulations
4 weeks
Consultation
NOW
Variation
Go Live
Design / testing / UAT
Regulations
come into
force
21
days
Finalising the detailed approach
Issue variation notices
(minimum 1 month to
make any
representations)
Issue
New Licences
22
Agenda – FCS Regional Conference
• Section 1 – Background on BR Trading and Liberalisation
• Section 2: New Licensing approach for Business Radio categories
• Section 3 – Pricing for the New Products
• Section 4 – Next step – Timescales
• Section 5 – The Spectrum Management System – MASTS
• Section 6 – Gaining Access to Spectrum
• Section 7 – Q & A
23
Project UNIFY
• Ofcom inherited around 70 systems from the legacy regulators from which it was
formed;
• Project Unify was launched in 2005 to integrate these disparate systems;
• Project encompasses all of Ofcom’s activities – so not only WT Act Licensing but field
operations, finance, human resources, project management and the Ofcom licensing
centre;
• Unify has already delivered improved efficiency and reduced costs across Ofcom;
• Fixed Links phase was delivered / go live on 28th April 2008;
• Business Radio is expected to go live in November 2008.
24
Unify/SMS (MASTS) update
SMS / Business Radio technical tool to be delivered w/c 14 July 08
– Looking at: Propagation Models (P 1546 – 3 and P 370 – 7), MASTS, International
Co-ordination, Geolimits, Data Migration and Transformation, UHF-1 Co-ordination
(Fylingdales), Channel Plans, Frequency Assignment and Application Form;
– Aim to complete testing by mid September 2008.
Licensing Admin. Project
– Detail Design is underway.
Next Steps
– Detailed Design and Business Processes for Licensing System;
– Incorporation of SMS Technical Tools into overall Licensing System;
– Data Migration;
– Testing;
– Training.
Timescales as currently planned:
– Target Go-Live for Unify/SMS Release 2c/d (including Business Radio): November
2008.
25
BR new licensing system
SPECTRA web
SPECTRA emc
SPECTRA plus
SPECTRA plan
CHIRplus_LM
26
Agenda – FCS Regional Conference
• Section 1 – Background on BR Trading and Liberalisation
• Section 2: New Licensing approach for Business radio categories
• Section 3 – Pricing for the New Products
• Section 4 – Next step – Timescales
• Section 5 – The Spectrum Management System – MASTS
• Section 6 – Gaining Access to Spectrum
• Section 7 – Q & A
27
Acquiring access to spectrum
• Apply to Ofcom
– Paper application or e-application
– Moving towards on line application and payment for all products - at a later stage
• Use the Trading Register to identify tradable licences
– Open negotiations and establish if a trade can be agreed
• Apply to Ofcom for approval and issue of new licence(s)
28
UK simple Licence
- no site
(UK General)
BR licence process
UK site licence
BR Light
Licence
Applicant can seek advice
from Ofcom on which type
of licence will meet his
requirements
(On site Local communication,
Onsite one paging & self select)
Suppliers Licence
Licensee requires
a BR licence
Applies to Ofcom
Ofcom will assist to check
if deployment meets
the boundary conditions
Licensee requires
Ofcom approval through
post issue support
BR Technically
assigned
licence
BR Area
defined
licence
UHF1, Band III, and
International coordination
Ofcom evaluates the
request – MASTS
Ofcom issues a Licence
with a set of frequencies
Ofcom issues a Licence
with a set of frequencies
Ofcom issues a Licence
with a set of frequencies
Ofcom issues a licence
assignment process
Ofcom checks
availability (frequency
within the geographical
area: Nations, trading
units or combinations)
Ofcom issues a licence
Licensee flexibility granted but licensee
must comply with licence conditions
and national and international
Coordination
29
Type of trade
A
A
B
B
A
A
A
Full and Outright
A+B
A
A+B
Partial and Outright
Full and Concurrent
Partial and Concurrent
30
• How will it work – the procedures ?
•
Trading
Buyer wants
spectrum
•
Parties
negotiate and
make own
investigations
Parties apply to
Ofcom for
approval to
trade
Ofcom assess
and approve
Ofcom issues
new licence
Liberalisation
Licensee
wants to
change
licence
•
Buyer looks at
Register
Consults
guidelines
Licensee
applies to
Ofcom
Ofcom assess
and approve
Ofcom varies
licence
Initially cautious and controlled but with experience
we may look to ease restriction.
Web Link to the Trading Register http://146.101.202.225/public-tnr/wtrSearch.do
31
Example of trade and liberalisation flexibility
• 25 kHz channel currently is used for national paging - This will be migrated to Area
Defined licence class
– So licensee can then split the 25 KHz channel to 2 X 12.5 kHz through partial trade change the use for example analogue PMR (12.5 kHz) and trade the other 12.5 kHz;
– Can be concurrently traded + Commercial agreement between the two holder on the
usage of the licence;
– Any other changes to the licence term and conditions including the technical licence
conditions has to be approved by Ofcom.
• 12.5 KHz wide area – Business class: Taxi
– This licence will be migrated to Technically Assigned licence class with no Business
restriction – So it can be used for Taxi/courier or others as long as the technical
licence conditions are met;
– Any changes the licence technical parameters (for example increase/decrease power
or antenna height) has to be approved by Ofcom.
32
Further Information
If there any questions regarding these changes, please contact:
[email protected]
Further information is available on the Ofcom website at:
www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/business_radio/
Any other enquiries regarding existing licences should be addressed to
[email protected]
33
Agenda – FCS Regional Conference
• Section 1 – Background on BR Trading and Liberalisation
• Section 2: New Licensing approach for Business Radio categories
• Section 3 – Pricing for the New Products
• Section 4 – Next step – Timescales
• Section 5 – The Spectrum Management System – MASTS
• Section 6 – Gaining Access to Spectrum
• Section 7 – Q & A
34
Any Questions?
Thank You