Ofcom streamlines business radio licences

Ofcom wants to streamline the licensing of private radio communications, cutting back on the regulation of 50,000 organisations in the UK.

The business radio licences are used by companies from high street taxi firms to oil companies, utilities, transport businesses and supermarket chains, as well as the emergency services.

The various different types of licences cover uses including on-site and wide area speech and data systems; remote meter reading; asset tracking; hospital paging; and emergencies services speech systems.

The watchdog will replace 21 different types of licence, covering 50,000 licensees, with just three categories. Within each category, restrictions on the permitted type of business radio use and technology will be removed, freeing use of the spectrum.

In future 15,000 licensees will be able to apply online and pay a flat fee of £75 for a five-year licence. New types of licence will be tradable.

The deadline for responses to Ofcom's consultation on the licence changes is 15 September.