1. Purpose

In December 2004 the Ministry of Economic Development issued An Engineering Discussion Paper on Spectrum Allocations for Studio to Transmitter Links in support of radio broadcasting. The industry was invited to comment on the current spectrum allocations and band arrangements for issuing Studio to Transmitter Link (STL) licenses and how the utilisation of this spectrum may be improved to accommodate the anticipated growth in demand.

The outcome from the December 2004 discussion was a paper entitled Studio to Transmitter Links Discussion Paper: Summary of Submissions and Conclusions which was released in July 2005.

Since publication of the Summary Submissions and Conclusions additional comments have been received by the Ministry from Radio Broadcasting Industry. The comments have been used in the development of this discussion paper. These comments and all other submissions received as a result of the publication of this paper will be considered prior to formulating decisions.

The Summary Submission and Conclusions suggested issues which required further study. These studies have now been completed and proposals formulated for future frequency band arrangements for STL spectrum allocations. This discussion paper introduces draft frequency band arrangements and invites submissions from industry before it is finalised and implemented.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the frequency band arrangements which make the best possible provision for current and future STL services. To achieve this objective there are a variety of issues which have been considered which fall into two broad categories:

• Minimising obstacles to the anticipated growth in demand for STL licences; and
• Resolving band sharing issues with new services such as Short Range Devices (SRD).

These categories are interdependent and need to be considered together to arrive at the optimum solution. Optimising for one may very well limit the solutions for the other.