Licensing

Introduction

Section 36 of the Telecommunications Act of Trinidad and Tobago (‘the Act’) requires that the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (‘the Authority’) grants a licence to authorise the operation or use of any radiocommunication service or any radiotransmitting equipment, including that on board any ship, aircraft or other vessel in the territorial waters or airspace of Trinidad and Tobago¹.

Where the operation of a public telecommunications network or the provision of a public telecommunications or broadcasting service requires use of spectrum, the required licence applications are required by section 36 (2) of the Act to be processed as part of the concession application. Where radio transmitting equipment or a radiocommunications service is used for a private or “closed-user group” telecommunication service, licences are required for the radiocommunications system employed.

The National Spectrum Plan

The use of Spectrum is regulated by the National Spectrum Plan which provides a framework for regulating the use of spectrum in an orderly manner in accordance with the Authority’s mandate. This includes the allocation, reallocation, assignment and re-assignment of spectrum.
 

Types of Licences

The Spectrum Management Policy and the (‘Authorisation Framework’) define three types of licences that may be granted by the Authority:

	Spectrum Licence, which authorises the licensee to operate radiocommunication systems within a specified frequency band on a technology neutral basis.
	Station Licence, which authorises the licensee to operate the specified station in accordance with technical parameters determined by the Authority
	Class Licence, which authorises persons to use specific radiocommunication devices within specific technical and operational parameters, and which would generally apply to low-powered mass-market consumer devices.

The Class Licensing Regime

In its Authorisation Framework, the Authority recognised the need to develop a class licensing regime for the use of low power, low interference potential and mass-market consumer devices which operate within specific technical and operational parameters. The Class Licence will authorise users of such devices to operate in designated spectrum band(s) on a shared basis, subject to the following:

The class licensing process is intended to be a simplified authorisation process such that minimal administrative and financial burdens are imposed on the Authority and users of devices deemed to be class licensed.

To access the Authority’s Class Licensing Regime, the Schedule of Devices eligible for use under a Class Licence, Class License and Class License Registration form, please click here . 

1.  A licence is not required for any radio-communication service on board any ship of war, or military aircraft or satellite registered in Trinidad and Tobago.

2. Defined in the Act as “a group of persons, who have a common business or other economic interest other than the provision of a telecommunications service”.