Wireless Telegraphy Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Wireless Telegraphy Act is the name given to the foundation of all communication laws in the United Kingdom. Its name is derived from the invention of electric telegraphy and the subsequent invention of wireless transmission. Wireless telegraphy was followed by wireless telephony when the telephone system of wired speech transmission was first applied to the telegraph system and then to wireless telegraphy. This sequence of events gave birth to the new term of wireless telephony. Today the term wireless telephony has been replaced by the term radio broadcasting, though radiotelephony (hence "RT") still exists as a concept in maritime and aeronautical radio.
The guardian of the UK's electromagnetic (ie radio) spectrum is the communications regulator, Ofcom (www.ofcom.org.uk).
[edit] Brief history of the UK Wireless Telegraphy Acts
- Wireless Telegraphy Act 1904
- Wireless Telegraphy Act 1906
- Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949
- Wireless Telegraphy Act 1967
- Marine (&c) Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 (banned offshore pirate radio stations)
- Telecommunications Act 1984 (made amendments to the 1949 Act)
- Broadcasting Act 1990 (made extensive amendments to the 1949 act)
- Broadcasting Act 1996
- Wireless Telegraphy Act 1998 (introduced spectrum pricing)
- Office of Communications Act 2002 (created Ofcom)
- Communications Act 2003 (provided for new activities relating to spectrum pricing)
- Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 (eif 8-2-07; repealed the 1949 Act; consolidated WT legislation)
