Executive brief

The Ministry released in April 2008 the discussion paper Spectrum allocations for UWB Communication Devices to find an appropriate licensing arrangement for UWB communications in New Zealand. The paper considered recent developments in the regulation of UWB communications and related technical standards adopted by our trading partners internationally. It solicited the opinions of UWB vendors, potential operators, existing spectrum users and other stakeholders on appropriate technical standards and a number of related issues. The discussion paper presented four possible options: status quo, European, United States and the Korean/Japanese frameworks. The Ministry proposed to adopt the European regulatory framework, which involves a GUL type of licence based on ETSI technical standards.

The submissions received support the Ministry’s proposal of adopting the European harmonised framework for UWB communications devices in New Zealand. In light of this support, the Ministry will create a GUL framework introducing the post 2010 emission limits established by Europe (which was the favoured approach by the NZ submitters) without a transitional limit mask. The post 2010 emission limits are more stringent than those adopted for the transition period prior to 2010. The proposed emission limits are described in Appendix B.