Summary

  • A vendor design and Ofcom's indicative availability map are inputs to an application, not proof that an installed network is authorised.
  • Shared Access permissions depend on the licence class and the final site, frequency, bandwidth, power, antenna and coordination conditions.
  • Acceptance should reconcile the final licence schedule with the as-built radio inventory and make later changes trigger a fresh check.

The warehouse looks ready. Radios are mounted, fibre and power are connected, SIMs are provisioned and a coverage drawing predicts strong service across the loading bays. Yet the acceptance folder contains only that drawing and a screenshot from Ofcom's spectrum-availability map. It does not contain the final licence schedule for the site.

That gap is more important than the visible progress. The hardware proves that a system has been installed. It does not prove that the radio parameters in use are authorised at those coordinates.

This is a hypothetical acceptance scene, not an allegation about a named site, supplier or licensee. The controlling evidence for any real deployment is its actual Ofcom licence and schedule.

Four different evidence objects

A disciplined project keeps four objects separate. The first is the vendor's radio plan: where equipment could be placed and how it might be configured. The second is the indicative availability result, which helps a team understand where an application may be feasible. The third is the completed coordination outcome and application record. The fourth is the final authorisation.

Only the last object states the permission that the operator can rely on. Ofcom expressly describes its beta 3.8–4.2 GHz map as an indicative guide that is updated periodically and does not guarantee that an assignment will be available. A green-looking map cell therefore cannot be promoted into a licence by copying it into a commissioning pack.

The distinction also protects suppliers. A design may have been accurate when proposed, while the authorised channel, bandwidth or antenna conditions changed during coordination. The correct response is not to blame the drawing. It is to update the design and prove that the installed network matches the final conditions.

What Shared Access changes at site level

Ofcom currently makes Shared Access spectrum available in four mobile-technology bands: shared spectrum around 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz, 3.8–4.2 GHz and 26 GHz. The framework includes low-power and medium-power licence products, but they do not authorise the same thing.

The current guidance describes a low-power licensed area as a circle with a 50-metre radius around a grid coordinate supplied to Ofcom, within which any number of base stations may be authorised subject to the licence conditions. A medium-power licence instead authorises one base station and its connected terminals, with different availability and location conditions. The label “private 5G” does not resolve which permission is required.

Applications and assignments can depend on the selected frequency, bandwidth, radiated power, antenna characteristics and height, location and coordination with existing users. Ofcom's licensing updates also describe current coordination developments, including support for directional-antenna parameters in relevant applications. These are not decorative engineering details. They help define whether the operating design is the authorised design.

Build a site-to-licence reconciliation

The commissioning team should create one bounded reconciliation record rather than collect unrelated screenshots.

Acceptance field Evidence to retain
Authority Licensee name, licence reference and final schedule
Place Authorised coordinate, licensed area or base-station location
Spectrum Band, assigned frequency or channel and bandwidth
Radio limits Power, antenna pattern or gain, height and other stated conditions
Coordination Conditions, mitigations and any user-led coordination record
As built Radio identifiers, locations, configured frequencies, power and antennas
Change control Owner and trigger for a variation or a renewed coordination check

The record should also say what it does not prove. General guidance cannot certify a named installation. Equipment specifications do not prove that a frequency assignment was granted. A successful assignment does not by itself demonstrate that every device is compliant. A claim of interference needs incident or measurement evidence, not an inference from the licensing process.

Changes reopen the question

Acceptance is not permanent when the radio design changes. Moving a radio, increasing power, replacing an antenna, retuning a channel or extending coverage can break the relationship that was originally checked. The change workflow should therefore ask whether the new as-built parameters remain inside the licence or require a variation and further coordination.

This is an operational recommendation derived from the official framework, not an Ofcom-prescribed internal form. Heng Lu doctrine may explain why explicit authority and provenance matter to BTW, but it is not evidence that Ofcom granted, refused or varied a licence.

The acceptance decision

There are three honest states. Designed means the equipment and proposed coverage exist, but the authorisation is unresolved. Authorised on paper means a final licence exists, but the project has not reconciled it to the installation. Accepted as authorised means the licence schedule and as-built inventory match, with exceptions and future change ownership recorded.

Private 5G equipment becomes an accepted local network only when that third state is supported. Until then, the project has valuable hardware and a plausible design, but it still has an authority gap at the place where the radios will transmit.

Sources