Summary

  • Ofcom will stop authorising new use of legacy man-overboard AIS devices from 31 January 2027; existing authorisations expire after 31 December 2031.
  • The regulator extended its proposed deadline by one year after shipping interests said the original schedule could outrun equipment life and replacement budgets.

A beacon in the water is not an abstract spectrum user. It is trying to tell nearby vessels where a person is. The older man-overboard (MOB) devices do that over AIS1 and AIS2, channels also used for vessel identification and navigation data. They lack Digital Selective Calling (DSC), the capability built into the newer Class M MOB standard.

Ofcom’s final decision gives the old devices a split timetable. It will stop accepting new applications to use legacy MOB AIS from 31 January 2027. Equipment already authorised may remain in use through 31 December 2031. From 1 January 2032, its use will no longer be authorised under the UK licences.

That is a five-year runway for the installed fleet, not a five-year invitation to add more. The distinction keeps new authorisations from extending the legacy base while giving current licensees time to replace equipment. Ofcom will vary existing Ship Radio licences to mark the end date; application materials will stop listing the old devices after the January cutoff.

The change follows international channel rules adopted after the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference. Ofcom says Class M-compliant devices use DSC to alert nearby vessels without adding non-essential traffic to AIS channels, reducing congestion and interference risk. That is the regulator’s reason for the transition; its decision does not measure how much channel congestion legacy MOB devices caused or how often either design changes rescue outcomes.

The timetable moved during consultation. Ofcom’s March proposal would have ended existing authorisations on 31 December 2030. The UK Chamber of Shipping called that schedule commercially aggressive and asked for one or two more years, pointing to device life and capital burden. Ofcom added one year. Most respondents supported phasing out the old devices, but the consultation drew six responses in total—five non-confidential and one partly confidential.

The same decision clarifies other authorisations, including the use of autonomous maritime radio devices and VHF data-exchange channels aboard ships. Those changes modernise the licence book around international arrangements. The MOB deadline is the sharpest line in it: an emergency device can be familiar, useful and still lose its place in the spectrum plan.

Ofcom’s public record gives no count of legacy beacons in UK licences, replacement prices, Class M stock availability or before-and-after distress outcomes. Those figures would show whether the runway fits the fleet and whether the new channel arrangement delivers the safety gain the regulator expects.

Sources: Ofcom’s final statement; consultation and licence documents.