Icom UK Blog

What type of Business Radio Licence would be best for me? September 27, 2011

If you were not aware, Business Radio Licences have recently gone though a bit of a transformation. Whereas in the past there were over 20 forms of licences, the amount of licences has been rationalized by OFCOM to just five.

They are Simple UK Light, Simple Site Light, Suppliers Light, Technically Assigned and Area Defined.

Sounds confusing? Read on, as we have put a simple explanation of what is involved with each licence.

Simple UK Light:
This licence authorises the use of hand-portable or mobile radio equipment anywhere within the UK. Base station use is not permitted. Licensees have access to fifteen frequencies spread across four Business Radio frequency bands and must self-coordinate with other Simple UK Light licensees. The licence fee is £75 for five years.

Simple Site Light (the old UK General Licence):
This licence authorises the use of a radio system operating a base station and mobile stations within a small area (typically 1 kilometre or less). Frequencies available under this licence class are typically used for radio paging systems. Licensees have access to a range of frequencies and must self-coordinate with other Simple Site Light licensees. The licence fee is £75 for five years.

Suppliers Light:
This is a specialist licence for Radio Suppliers and permits them to:
• Service and repair business radio and marine equipment
• Hire out business radio (including trunked business radio) and/or radio paging equipment to customers for up to one year
• Allocate business radio (including trunked business radio) equipment to customers awaiting Business Radio licences, for up to three months (known as ‘parking’)
• Demonstrate business radio (including trunked business radio) equipment to customers for up to 8 days.
• The maximum permitted ERP is 10 Watts for base stations and 25 Watts for mobile stations. The maximum permitted base station antenna height above ground level is 20m

Licensees have access to a wide range of frequencies and must share and self-coordinate with other Suppliers Light licensees. The licence fee is £75 for five years.

Technically Assigned:
This is a flexible licence that authorises the use of a wide variety of business radio equipment. Licensees can choose from a wide range of frequencies across all Business Radio bands and a wide range of coverage areas, from very small (e.g. in-building coverage) to very large (e.g. a county).

Licence fees are calculated on a number of factors including the size of the coverage area and the popularity of the frequency band and typically range from £75 to £1480 for a single channel assignment.

Area Defined:
Area Defined licences give customers exclusive use of a frequency across either a 50km grid square, a country, or the whole of the UK. Licence fees are calculated using a combination of frequency width, frequency range and region covered.

As an example, a duplex 12.5kHz frequency between 450 and 470MHz to be used across the UK would cost £9,900. A duplex 12.5kHz frequency between 68 and 80MHz to be used across the UK would cost £3,300.

Availability of UK wide channels is extremely limited above 165MHz, so if you wish to purchase an Area Defined licence you should check spectrum availability with Ofcom.

This information is only a summary designed to guide you in the initial right direction. However if you have any further questions, please contact your local Icom Business Radio Dealer. Alternatively, information can be found on the at: Ofcom website business radio section.