§ Mr. Viggersasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what preparations are being made for the United Kingdom's participation in the world administrative radio conference for mobile telecommunications to be held by the International Telecommunications Union in Geneva in February 1983; and whether these preparations will include any element of public consultation.
§ Mr. WhitelawThe world administrative radio conference for mobile telecommunications is the first of a series of world International Telecommunications Union conferences that will complement the work of the world administrative radio conference, Geneva 1979. The 1983 conference will be concerned mainly with arrangements for maritime radio communications, and the use of radio for aeronautical purposes. It is not expected to have any significant impact on land-based mobile radio systems, and will not have the power to alter the frequency allocations agreed at the 1979 conference.
A preparatory committee under Home Office chairmanship, which has included representations of all the major organisations with an interest in this conference, has developed a set of provisional United Kingdom proposals for the conference. Copies of these provisional proposals are obtainable from the radio regulatory department, Room 804, Home Office, Waterloo Bridge House, Waterloo Road, London SE1 8UA, and comments on them, or on any other matter falling within the scope of the conference agenda are invited and should be sent to the radio regulatory department by 31 January 1982.