Radiocommunications Agency: Radio Regulation: Registered Files

KS 4

1983-2003

This series contains registered files of the Radiocommunications Agency (RA) concerning radio regulation.

There are 46 record series containing Governance records for the RA's main management and policy making committees Policy files and evidence of major UK and international decisions/agreements and for individual aspects of work on all functions, covering:

• agency management;
• frequency planning and allocation;
• international liaison;
• spectrum deregulation and pricing;
• technology;
• product development and licensing for sectors of frequency use;
• broadcasting spectrum;
• enforcement (may include significant case files).

Public Record(s)

English

• Department of Trade and Industry, Radio Regulatory Division, 1985-1986
• Department of Trade and Industry, Radiocommunications Division, 1986-1990
• Office of Communications (Ofcom), 2003-2003
• Radiocommunications Agency, 1990-2003

Records not yet transferred

Topics

Radio and television

Research

Communications

Ofcom has had custody of the records since the functions of the Radiocommunications Agency transferred to Ofcom.

These files document all aspects of the management of the radiospectrum, a unique natural resource which touches the lives of all citizens and organisations.

In 1918 the Wireless Telegraphy Board (the first UK interdepartmental committee) was set up to co-ordinate interference problems affecting radio communications in the English Channel. In 1939 it became known as the British Joint Communications Board (BJCB), and after 1945 the British Joint Communications-Electronics Board, incorporating the Joint Frequency Planning Panel (JFPP).

The 1949 Wireless Telegraphy Act allocated responsibility for the management of the radio spectrum to the General Post Office, latterly under the GPO Engineering Department. The Post Office Act 1969 separated the operational and governmental functions of the Post Office.

The GPO Engineering Department was transferred to the new Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) headed by the Director of Radio Technology. Policy governing the national planning, allocation and assignment of radio frequencies was shared across various Government departments, acting through the medium of committees. Harold Wilson's ministerial re-organisation in 1974 abolished the MPT, whose functions were transferred into the Home Office as the Radio Regulatory Department of the Home Office, was made up of two sections, the Directorate of Radio Technology (DRT), which provided technical expertise, and the Radio Regulatory Division which regulated the use of the radio frequency spectrum within the UK.

In 1983 the Radio Regulatory Department was moved to the Department of Trade and Industry, which was already responsible for telecommunications, information technology and innovation. Its name then became the Radio Regulatory Division.

In 1986 a further name change turned it into the Radiocommunications Division.

On 2 April 1990, the Division was launched as the Radiocommunications Agency, under the Government's Next Steps programme. On 29 December 2003 the Radiocommunications Agency merged with four other communications regulators to form the Office of Communications, known as Ofcom.