31 July 2008
An Ofcom consultation, which may mean over £1000 being added to the annual cost of flying, is due to close tomorrow.
The consultation deals with the Spectrum Framework, a band of radio frequencies which includes most aviation frequencies, including Comms, ILS, DME, radar and many more. At the moment Spectrum comes under the auspices of Ofcom, but Ofcom wants to pass it on to other public bodies to hold and trade in what is referred to as Recognised Spectrum Access (RSA).
The bodies which would become licensed for aviation frequencies would be the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Defence, who in turn would be likely to pass it on other bodies, maybe NATS or the CAA (but nothing is decided on this), as agents.
Due to international agreement, the frequencies must remain in the public domain, not in private hands, but even so there will be a cost recovery element and this will inevitably be handed down to the end user – in this case, the pilot or aircraft owner.
In the current consultation it is the military UHF which is at question, but the rest of the spectrum will come up for review, and light aviation bodies are saying that it is important that objections and issues are raised now, rather than in retrospect.
AOPA has calculated, given the value of the frequencies and the number of aircraft owners, that this could mean £1,000 – £1,200 added to the annual bill for ownership.
It should be pointed out that insiders are suggesting that the DfT does not want to add this responsibility to its portfolio, and the same appears to be true of NATS and the CAA.
This consultation doesn’t address the specific details. However, AOPA is asking people to object to the consultation on principle that it represents ‘regulatory creep’. It is hoping that enough pressure will be brought to bear so that Ofcom chooses to ‘ring fence’ the frequencies used by aviation.
AOPA says that, to its knowledge, 72 pilots have already sent their responses to Ofcom, and it is hoping that many more will respond before the deadline tomorrow evening (1 August 2008).
Read the full consultation document <a href=’http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/sfrps08/’ target=’_blank’>here</a>.
