Following an extensive consultation process which began in 2007, Ofcom had been due to make the appointment this spring, but earlier this year announced its intention to defer any decisions until after a third consultation. In a statement posted on the Ofcom website on 15 April, it announced that it would now fully defer any decisions until after London2012.
"In the light of our consultations and the responses we received, we have decided to defer the band-manager award until after the Olympics. This is in part because of the outstanding complexities of the award itself. But it is particularly because we consider there would be insufficient time to develop, test and implement the necessary arrangements between us and the band manager to coordinate spectrum use in London without an unacceptable risk of disruption to the Olympics."
Several organisations had expressed interest in the Award, amongst them PLASA, who, together with BEIRG (the British Entertainment Industry Radio Group) had been pro-active in the consultation process and had lobbied hard to get Ofcom to recognise the interests of the PMSE sector.
As a consequence of the delay, Ofcom now need to assess the options for PMSE spectrum management in the interim period and are weighing up whether to continue to outsource the granting of licences, as is currently the case, or to carry out this function themselves.
Ofcom's plans to clear the 800MHz band and release it for new services remain in place, but there has been a deadline extension, meaning that users of channel 69 will now have at least until 1 July 2012 in all of the UK and at least until 1 October 2012 in London, Northern Ireland and the northeast of England to migrate to channel 38, though the final date for clearance will remain no later than 31 December 2012.
Ofcom had initially indicated that the Band Manager's obligations to PMSE users would last until 2018, but many stakeholders argued this was unsatisfactory because equipment lifecycles often exceeded 10 years and a fixed cut-off date would act as a cliff-edge. From this latest statement it is clear that Ofcom has accepted both these arguments, and that their final decisions on this issue will provide greater security of tenure for PMSE users than previously prescribed.
Ofcom's statement does not address the issue of funding and compensation, but points to Government to make the final decision on this, which could potentially see many in the industry massively out of pocket. We should know more by July when Ofcom have committed to publishing decisions about future PMSE spectrum management and access. For further details use the weblink below.
(Ruth Rossington)
