1.32 Radio communications services in the UK require a Telecommunications Act licence from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). They also need a licence from the Radiocommunications Agency2 specifying which part of the radio spectrum is covered and what use is to be made of it. The Telecommunications Act licence for Airwave was drawn up by the DTI in consultation with other official bodies such as the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), as well as potential stakeholders and the communications market. The licence requires sharers to be predominantly public safety organisations, that is their primary function is to respond to emergencies. Organisations that meet this criterion are listed in Figure 4. Where only part of an organisation has a public safety/emergency response role, only that part of the organisation will be allowed to use Airwave.
1.33 The Telecommunications Act licence allows changes to be made to the list of sharers at the discretion of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and subject to formal public consultation period of 28 days. Prospective sharers must show that they have a legitimate operational requirement to interact directly, instantly and frequently with the police and other emergency services.
1.34 O2 lobbied for a wider interpretation of public safety and a longer list of sharers to include some of the privatised utilities such as electricity, gas and water. DTI rejected this request on the grounds that the spectrum allocated to O2 for Airwave is designated for use by emergency services only. Allowing commercial users, with only a marginal public safety role, to use Airwave would alter the terms of the original competitive procurement for the provision of a public safety radio service. Furthermore, increasing the list of sharers would have been unfair to commercial TETRA service providers who had bid for their licences in open competition, and who had reasonable expectations that utilities and Local Authorities would form a substantial portion of their potential customer base.
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2 An Executive Agency of the DTI