Notice of Ofcom’s proposal to make Wireless Telegraphy Regulations relating to Satellite Services licences

Summary

Summary

1.1 On 6 July 2006, we published a consultation document concerning modifications to Wireless Telegraphy Act licence charges (“the policy consultation[ ^(-1-)] ”). The policy consultation set out a number of proposals for modifying licence charges imposed in accordance with the powers granted to us under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 (“the WT Act”). We carefully considered the responses to the policy consultation and on 10 January 2007 issued a statement, “Modifications to spectrum pricing” (“the policy statement”) [ ^(-2-)] , explaining our decisions. On 6 August 2007, we made regulations which implemented some of the decisions set out in the policy statement. These regulations came into force on 27 August 2007.

1.2 This Statutory Notice relates to the making of The Wireless Telegraphy (Licence Charges) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2007 concerning Satellite Services licences (“the draft pricing regulations”). It explains our intention to implement the associated decisions described in the policy statement.

1.3 These changes will update the fees payable for Satellite Services licences as follows:

• adjusting Satellite (Transportable Earth Station) (TES) and Satellite (Permanent Earth Station) (PES) licence fees in order to introduce Administrative Incentive Pricing (AIP) at a rate comparable to that paid by other sectors (for example fixed links, which use the same or similar spectrum);
• deregulating the Satellite (Earth Station on Board Vessel) licence class by removing it from the fees regulations;
• introducing cost-based fees for Satellite (Aircraft Earth Station) and Satellite (Earth Station Network) licences; and
• introducing fees for the Satellite (Transportable Very Small Aperture Terminal) and Satellite (Earth Station on Board Train) licence classes that have been created in response to demand for new services.

1.4 We intend to implement the decisions outlined in the pricing statement which relate to Business Radio reform in 2008.

1.5 Section 2 of this document provides a general background to the policy and regulatory framework for WT Act licence charges. It also explains the process by which we are providing notice of our intention to make the draft pricing regulations and describes the proposed changes to WT Act licence charges.

1.6 Section 3 of this document explains the general effect of the draft pricing regulations.

1.7 A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) setting out the benefits, costs and risks of the draft pricing regulations is included at Annex 4.

1.8 The draft pricing regulations can be found at Annex 5. Further hard copies of the draft pricing regulations are available from us at 2a Southwark Bridge Road , London SE1 9HA from the contact specified in Annex 1 for responding to this Notice.

1.9 We invite written views and comments on the draft pricing regulations by 14 December 2007. Subject to any representations we receive, we intend to publish a statement and proceed with implementation of the regulations. We plan to bring the regulations into force no later than the end of January 2008. The consultation period is shorter than the standard 10 week consultation period because this statutory notice follows a policy consultation, issued in July 2006, which fully considered the policy impact of the proposals. All respondents should use the online form to respond to the statutory notice available at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/licencecharges/howtorespond/form.

Footnotes:

1.-http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/pricing06/

2.-http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/pricing06/statement/

The full document is available below