Ever wonder what might happen if you overlooked the payment of the ACMA Licensing fee? This case study demonstrates that it could wind up being quite a costly and time consuming exercise.
We were recently engaged to assist a client, whose radio network comprises three base stations with a total of 21 licensed frequency pairs, with an ACMA re-licensing issue.
The client inadvertently failed to pay the licence fee for a digital Land Mobile Radio system within the payment due date. Oblivious to the oversight the frequency licences were cancelled from the ACMA Register meaning the frequencies became available for other entities to licence and use. While there was the obvious risk through the continued use of the frequencies, the client put itself at threat of investigation and a serious infringement in the event of interference caused to any registered radio system.
Once the client had become aware of the unlicensed frequencies it had to go through the protracted process of re-licensing the abandoned frequencies.
Titan ICT undertook a complete licensing procedure to re-acquire the frequencies for the working system, as well as perform a detailed interference and inter-modulation calculation on all frequencies. The result was that one channel (out of the 21) was no longer available as it had been registered by another entity within the area. A new frequency pair had to be selected for the system meaning the system would require modifications to re-programme several base station transceivers and over 600 portable devices, and a re-tune of RF filters.
The cost of this oversight is significantly higher than the licensing fee and could have been avoided. A simple audit every 2-3 years keeps the ‘house in order’ and will prevent any nasty surprises.
For more information on licensing audits, contact Mike Ryan on michael.ryan@titan.net.au or 1300 60 86 87.