Summary

  • Existing legacy MOB AIS equipment remains authorised through 31 December 2031; from 1 January 2032, use ends.
  • Ofcom moved the final date by one year after the Cruising Association and UK Chamber of Shipping asked for longer, while keeping the 31 January 2027 stop on new authorisations.

One more year, then the switch flips

A man-overboard beacon is a small object with an unusually large job: make a person’s position visible when seconds matter. Ofcom has given the older AIS version another year on UK licences. The old deadline was 31 December 2030. The final one is 31 December 2031. At midnight into 2032, that equipment will no longer be authorised for use.

The decision has two dates, and one of them stayed put. From 31 January 2027, Ofcom will stop authorising new use of legacy MOB AIS devices. Equipment already authorised can remain on licences through the end of 2031. From 1 January 2032, licensees should use modern Class M devices that send Digital Selective Calling (DSC) alerts.

The March proposal would have closed the existing-device window at the end of 2030. The Cruising Association asked for a five-year phase-out through 2032, saying leisure-boater devices can last up to ten years. The UK Chamber of Shipping called the original schedule commercially aggressive and asked for 31 December 2031, arguing that fleet purchases and equipment replacement follow service cycles. Ofcom granted the Chamber’s requested date. The consultation changed the last page of the timetable; the new-authorisation cutoff did not move.

That distinction matters because an AIS beacon is sharing channels used for safety and navigation. Ofcom says legacy devices transmit on AIS1 and AIS2 without DSC, fail the Class M standard and are no longer appropriate users of channels reserved for safety-of-navigation. Phasing them out is intended to reduce interference risk to safety-related transmissions. The regulator’s case is about who gets to transmit on crowded safety channels, not whether an old beacon has helped someone before.

Ofcom’s cost argument is that a Class M-compliant beacon costs £200–£400 and that older equipment is usually replaced near its roughly five-year expiry, after emergency use or a failed self-test. That is the regulator’s model of a manageable transition. The Chamber’s filing describes a different purchasing calendar: fleet operators buy safety equipment in batches and may replace it around surveys or battery and hydrostatic-release schedules. One side sees a normal replacement cycle; the other sees a deadline that can turn a working device into a stranded purchase.

The public record does not show how many legacy units or licensees sit on that deadline. Ofcom says only a small percentage of Ship Radio and Ship Portable Radio licensees are likely to be affected. Its figures of 521 AIS licences and 64 Suppliers and Demonstration licences concern other licence variations, not MOB AIS devices. That missing count is the number needed to test whether “small percentage” means a few unusual vessels or a broad replacement wave.

The next control point is administrative. Ofcom plans a General Notice in November 2026, followed by eight weeks for representations, with final variation decisions due no later than February 2027. Every affected Ship Radio licence is to receive an expiry date for the device’s authorisation. The calendar is set; the licensing paperwork will make it operational.

For owners, fleet managers and equipment suppliers, the useful question is no longer whether the deadline will be generous. It is whether a specific beacon is already authorised, when its approval expires, and whether a compliant replacement fits the vessel’s use. A deadline is a neat line on a page. Replacing thousands of individual devices, if that is what the count shows, is the less tidy part.

Official sources