Two Way Radio
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| Major changes in the U.K. General licensing for Private Business Radio |
09:35 09-Sep-2002 |
In July 2002 the radio Communications agency (RA) introduced the PBR UK General Licence to replace the PMR (Standard) UK general license (which will be phased out in 2006). This new license allows business customers to use PMR/PBR hand-portable or mobile radio equipment anywhere in the UK without the need to inform the RA... and all for the reduced license fee of £60.00 every THREE years, irrespective of the number of mobile in use.
The license for this service has been designed to allow radio users access to one or more of the 15 frquencies spread across 4 PMR bands. As this is a "go anywhere" type of service the use of base stations is not permitted unless prior authorisation has been obtained from the RA. There is no limitation on the number of sites where a licensee can use radios covered by the PBR U.K. General license, or on the duration of use at any location. However, the maximum permitted effective radiated power for this licenese is limited to 5 watts. Of the 3000 existing UK General users, approximately 80% will simply be invited to apply for the new licence when their current licence expires. This is because these users are licensed to operate on frequencies that will be included in the new licence and as a result, no changes are required to their existing equipment. Obviously some users may wish to take advantage of the increase in available channels and have these installed in their radios. The remaining 20% of existing users will use frequencies that are not on the list of frequencies available under the new licence. In these cases, changes to their equipment will be required, so a period of up to five years is being allowed for these users to change over to the new licence or to an alternative licence product. In the meantime the existing licence will stay in force and will be subject to the current fee. As the new licence should represent a significant reduction in licence fee, users remaining on the old licence should re-examine their radio needs to determine whether or not the new licence could meet their requirements and, if so, move to the new licence sooner rather than later.
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