EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS (LICENSING AND GENERAL) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) STATUTORY RULE NO 272
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR LAND TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT
Subsection 93(1) of the Radiocommunications Act 1983 (‘the Act’) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The regulations amend the Radiocommunications (Licensing and General) Regulations (‘the Principal Regulations’) in order to make certain changes to the structure and form of transmitter and receiver licensing. Detail of these changes are provided below. The changes are related to amendments of the Regulations made under the various Radiocommunications taxing Acts in accordance with Government decisions taken in the Budget context.
Regulation 1: Commencement
The regulations will come into operation on 1 December 1987.
Regulation 2: Principal Regulations
‘Principal Regulations’ means the Radiocommunications (Licensing and General) Regulations.
Regulation 3: Interpretation
Regulation 3 amends various definitions which are
contained in regulation 2 of the Principal Regulations. It has twelve paragraphs.
Paragraph (a): introduces a new definition ‘ambulatory service’ to the Principal Regulations. The expression means a mobile service consisting wholly of ambulatory stations.
Paragraph (b): amends the existing definition of ‘amateur station’ to tie it more directly to the full set of conditions which are applicable to an amateur station licence under Part III of the Principal Regulations. The previous paragraph (b) of the definition has been omitted and a new paragraph (b) is inserted. The previous paragraph (b) was a brief summary of certain major conditions applicable to an amateur station licence.
Paragraph (c): formal.
Paragraph (d): amends the definition of ‘extra high density location’ by omitting the area within 65 km of the Melbourne GPO, thereby leaving the location category to cover only the area within 80 km of the Sydney GPO. The Melbourne area is included in a new ‘very high density location’ along with central Brisbane.
Paragraph (e): amends the definition of ‘high density location’ so that it applies to locations within 30 km of the GPO in Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong, Adelaide and Perth and locations within 35 km of the GPO in Surfers Paradise.
Paragraph (f): introduces a new definition ‘land mobile system service’ to the Principal Regulations. The expression means a land mobile service comprising a base station and any number of mobile stations.
Paragraph (g): defines ‘low density location’ to mean a location that is not within any of the other three locations. See notes on paragraphs (d), (e) and (1).
Paragraph (h): omits the definition of ‘multipoint distribution station’. The term is now defined in Schedule 1.
Paragraph (i): omits the current definition of “narrowband area receiver” and substitutes two new definitions; a definition of “narrowband area service” and a new definition of “narrowband area receiver” which employs the definition of “narrowband area service”.
Paragraph (j): omits the term ‘network’ from regulation 2 of the Principal Regulations. The expression is no longer used in the Principal Regulations.
Paragraph (k): redefines ‘outside broadcast television service’ to mean a service operating at a frequency above 1 GHz between two points for short periods of time for the transmission of information associated with particular events. The new definition covers the uses that were previously licensed under the service and any other uses in which a temporary microwave link is necessary.
Paragraph (1): adds a new location category (ie: ‘very high density location’) to the three previous categories of location which applied to the licensing of base stations, class A. The category covers the area within 65 km of the Melbourne GPO and 40 km of the Brisbane GPO. See notes on paragraph (d), (e) and (g).
Regulation 4: Installation, etc of station or service
This is a consequential amendment which relates to the proposed amendment of regulation 2 of the Principal Regulations contained in paragraph (j) of regulation 3 (ie: the removal of the definition of ‘network’).
Regulation 5: Schedule 1
Repeals the existing Schedule 1 of the Principal Regulations and substitutes a new Schedule 1. Certain new categories of licence have been introduced and certain existing categories have been redefined. Notes on significant changes to categories follow.
‘Ambulatory services’ - see note on paragraph (a) of proposed regulation 3. The three categories are distinguished on the basis of location and are taxed differently under the Radiocommunications (Transmitter Licence Tax) Regulations.
‘Base stations’ - a new class of base station - Base station, Class 1 - is introduced to cover a base station that transmits to mobiles and operates on a single frequency not exceeding 30 MHz. ‘Base station, Class B’ has been renamed ‘Base station, Class III’, and a third category of base station covering all other base stations (ie ‘Base station, Class II) has been introduced and divided into three classes on the basis of location.
‘Fixed station, Class A (business) and (private)’ - both categories have been redefined to provide that a fixed station is to use for transmission purposes a single frequency not exceeding 30 MHz.
‘Land mobile system service’ - this new category covers a service consisting of a base station, class II:
(a) that operates:
(i) in association with any number of mobile stations; or
(ii) as part of a trunked land mobile service, not being a service of that kind that has been operating at the time of application for a licence in respect of that system during a period of less than three years; and
(b) that uses frequency channels:
(i) not currently allocated for use by the holder of another transmitter licence; and
(ii) not previously allocated for use under another transmitter licence held by the holder of the licence in respect of the system.
The licensing of a system as a ‘land mobile system service’ is compulsory where the system operates in a extra high density location or a very high density location. The ‘land mobile system service (special)’ category enables the voluntary licensing of systems in all locations.
‘Multipoint distribution station’ - this single category replaces the three previous categories.
‘Telemetry services’ - these have been split into two categories on the basis of location (ie: ‘low density location’ and ‘other than low density location’).