§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement concerning the regulations governing the use of cable television companies of opportunities given in the 12 gigahertz microwave band.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe Broadcasting Act 1990, which will come into force on 1 January 1991, permits new local delivery operators to use microwave video distribution system—MVDS—in addition to or instead of cable. Under the transitional arrangements some existing cable operators have the right to apply to become local delivery operators and therefore to use microwave video distribution systems.
Last year, after wide consultation, the Department of Trade and Industry announced that the 40.5–42.5 gigahertz band would be made available to microwave video distribution systems and that further work would be done to see whether it could also be accommodated in the 11.7–12.5 gigahertz band.
This further work indicates that only very limited microwave video distribution systems would be possible within the 12 gigahertz band without displacing existing users. Officials from the Department of Trade and Industry are now consulting interested parties to see whether there is sufficient interest in such a limited operation and intend to make their conclusions known as soon as possible.