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Mt Victoria (Wellington) TOPO50: BQ31 504.23 268.25 WGS84: 174.7966140E 41.2960160S
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Executive summary

  1. Since 1989 the Crown has progressively sold commercial spectrum rights created under the Radiocommunications Act for periods of up to of 20 years. Spectrum rights therefore expire from time to time beginning in 2010.
  2. In May 2003 Cabinet agreed policy on expiry of commercial spectrum rights. Subject to case-by-case assessment, replacement rights will be offered to existing rightholders five years before expiry, at a price calculated using a price-setting formula. If the offer is not accepted, the rights will be auctioned.
  3. A discussion paper on implementation of the agreed policy was released in May 2004. A report back was invited by 31 March 2005 seeking approval of a process for implementation of the policy and for contractual offers to be made for spectrum rights due to expire before 30 April 2011. The diagram on page two of this paper depicts the overall policy process on expiry of rights, and the position of this paper.
  4. Part A of this paper seeks approval for a process to implement the policy, including the timing and scope of the case by case assessment, application of the price-setting formula and the settlement process.
  5. Part B of this paper applies the process to rights due to expire in 2010, being licences for UHF television and spectrum at 2.3GHz. It seeks agreement for contractual offers to be made in 2005 to rightholders for UHF-TV spectrum licences. Other rights expiring in 2010 will not be offered for renewal due to lack of utilisation.
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Last updated 4 April 2008