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ofcom annual report says ofcom is ?232 million pounds in debt

 

given the rather large debt ofcom has run up
i am not sure they would be in a position to bring in
a new licence at this time
i support any initiatives that brings more people into the hobby
the recent changes to the foundation exam making it harder
has seen only 19 candidates passing it in september
i am not sure if reducing the numbers was the objective
but if it was it has worked well
acma the vk ofcom has given the radio amateur exam to a private exam company
taking if away from the wia the vk? rsgb

could that happen here



73 ian g3zhi
 

It already has.


It was called City & Guilds!




Bob, G8IYK

On Wednesday, 23 October 2019, 17:40:24 BST, G3ZHI ian <g3zhi@...> wrote:


given the rather large debt ofcom has run up
i am not sure they would be in a position to bring in
a new licence at this time
i support any initiatives that brings more people into the hobby
the recent changes to the foundation exam making it harder
has seen only 19 candidates passing it in september
i am not sure if reducing the numbers was the objective
but if it was it has worked well
acma the vk ofcom has given the radio amateur exam to a private exam company
taking if away from the wia the vk? rsgb

could that happen here



73 ian g3zhi
 

Good to hear from you Ian,

I don't think we need to be unduly concerned about Ofcom's finances. The sum you mention resulted from a provision made concerning a legal judgement on 900/1800 MHz licence fees. DCMS and HM Treasury have agreed to pay the required funding, so Ofcom is not short of cash.

You mention the situation in Australia regarding exams. For those not aware, the regulator ACMA put the exams out to tender, the national society WIA put in a bid to continue running the exams but the work went to the Australian Maritime College (AMC).

The result was a dramatic increase in exam fees, for young people the Foundation fee rose from $40 to $115.

Australia had copied the UK's Foundation licence and the move to AMC highlighted a major drawback of Practical Assessments - they are very expensive to administer.

Hopefully we will not see a similar situation in UK but it might be wise for us to introduce an alternative route into the hobby that is not dependent on Practical Assessments.

73 Trevor M5AKA


On Wednesday, 23 October 2019, 17:40:24 BST, G3ZHI ian <g3zhi@...> wrote:


given the rather large debt ofcom has run up
i am not sure they would be in a position to bring in
a new licence at this time
i support any initiatives that brings more people into the hobby
the recent changes to the foundation exam making it harder
has seen only 19 candidates passing it in september
i am not sure if reducing the numbers was the objective
but if it was it has worked well
acma the vk ofcom has given the radio amateur exam to a private exam company
taking if away from the wia the vk? rsgb

could that happen here



73 ian g3zhi
 

As Trevor said the sum is an amount of money Ofcom collected from the MNOs for the government over a number of years but due to a legal challenge they have to give some of the money back. This is will be paid back by the government. Ofcom gets its money from licence fees and tariffs on the company’s it regulates.


From what I understand Ofcom has a seat on the exam board but only are there to make sure the HARAC standard is met but the rest is up to the RSGB. I feel they are wanting less and less to do with amateur radio e.g. they no longer send anyone to hamfest. Given this if the RSGB wanted to do away with the practical my guess is that Ofcom would not be bothered. However, removing some of the practical assessments from foundation would significantly remove the power of the clubs.


Also I recall some talk of a report being sent around that proposed a series of changes to licensing that was similar to this proposal. Does anyone know what happened to it?

Pete
 

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If ofcom is in debt then why don’t they go back and introduce a 12 monthly fee for licenses say thirty pound a year for everyone across the board then we might see them out and about a bit more to catch them what play up on the bands?


On Oct 23, 2019, at 20:04, Anonymous (hoardagency@...) <hoardagency@...> wrote:

?

As Trevor said the sum is an amount of money Ofcom collected from the MNOs for the government over a number of years but due to a legal challenge they have to give some of the money back. This is will be paid back by the government. Ofcom gets its money from licence fees and tariffs on the company’s it regulates.


From what I understand Ofcom has a seat on the exam board but only are there to make sure the HARAC standard is met but the rest is up to the RSGB. I feel they are wanting less and less to do with amateur radio e.g. they no longer send anyone to hamfest. Given this if the RSGB wanted to do away with the practical my guess is that Ofcom would not be bothered. However, removing some of the practical assessments from foundation would significantly remove the power of the clubs.


Also I recall some talk of a report being sent around that proposed a series of changes to licensing that was similar to this proposal. Does anyone know what happened to it?

Pete
 

When you add the administration costs I don’t think charging for amateur and marine licences will make any difference to their bottom line.?
 

Before 2006 the annual licence fee never went to Ofcom anyway. Most of it was just burnt up in the paperwork/bureaucratic costs of issuing annual licences and the rest went straight to HM Treasury, Ofcom didn't retain any of it.

73 Trevor M5AKA

On Thursday, 24 October 2019, 09:48:06 BST, Paul via Groups.Io <m0ppd@...> wrote:


When you add the administration costs I don’t think charging for amateur and marine licences will make any difference to their bottom line.?

 

They are not in debt as the industry’s they regulate pay for them. The money was a result of a court case and all it means is that the government needs to pay the mobile companies back some of the money they have already collected from them over the last couple of years. The mobile companies pay over ?200m per year just to access the two bands (900/1800) they were given in the 80s and 90s.

If Ofcom did ever decide to reintroduce an annual fee I doubt it would be as low as ?30. My fear is that if they did bring it back it would be inline with Most of their other licences which are a minimum of ?75.

Pete?

On Thu, 24 Oct 2019 at 08:31, peter davies via Groups.Io <m6pdj=[email protected]> wrote:
If ofcom is in debt then why don’t they go back and introduce a 12 monthly fee for licenses say thirty pound a year for everyone across the board then we might see them out and about a bit more to catch them what play up on the bands?


On Oct 23, 2019, at 20:04, Anonymous (hoardagency@...) <hoardagency@...> wrote:

?

As Trevor said the sum is an amount of money Ofcom collected from the MNOs for the government over a number of years but due to a legal challenge they have to give some of the money back. This is will be paid back by the government. Ofcom gets its money from licence fees and tariffs on the company’s it regulates.


From what I understand Ofcom has a seat on the exam board but only are there to make sure the HARAC standard is met but the rest is up to the RSGB. I feel they are wanting less and less to do with amateur radio e.g. they no longer send anyone to hamfest. Given this if the RSGB wanted to do away with the practical my guess is that Ofcom would not be bothered. However, removing some of the practical assessments from foundation would significantly remove the power of the clubs.


Also I recall some talk of a report being sent around that proposed a series of changes to licensing that was similar to this proposal. Does anyone know what happened to it?

Pete

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