National Frequency Plan

The National Frequency Plan (NFP) includes details of how spectrum is allocated to Radiocommunication Services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the considerations that guide spectrum allocation policy, and incorporates the articles governing spectrum allocations. The NFP is CST’s principal instrument for managing the allocation of spectrum to different Radiocommunication Services. It also sets out which user has access to a particular spectrum band, provides details on the applicable regulations, and any applicable international requirements. 

The current NFP was last revised in 2019 and reflected the spectrum management decisions of the time.  With the evolution of spectrum use over the last years, as well as the need for more efficient use of spectrum and the potential for sharing in some bands, CST has reviewed and revised the NFP, taking into account developments in wireless technologies and changing demand for spectrum access in the Kingdom as well as international developments such as the previous World Radio Conference (WRC-23).

Within the Kingdom, the NFP is used to describe the bands allocated to different radio services and users. It is an essential initial input in identifying the frequency bands that may potentially be used for a service, subject to current and future utilisation, and is referred to when making policy decisions and international harmonisation.

CST is revising the NFP in a number of ways. The below list sets out the main changes to the previous NFP.

• Provided an overview of how international and national allocations are related.

• Revised how primary and secondary services are defined.

• Updated the structure of the NFAT and included a new column called ‘user category’ to clarify user category access to the band. 

• Identified new user categories, beyond the previous ones, to better reflect the nature of uses and how to manage them.

• Reviewed the previous articles, appendices, and footnotes in the NFP and updated them.

• Removed references to specific ITU Radio Regulations Appendices, such as for ISM and GMDSS, in the updated NFP document, apart from in the table of the NFAT itself.

 

1. Do you agree with the changes proposed in this section? If not, please explain why.

2. Are there any changes that should be made other than those mentioned in this section?

3. Is there any information in the NFP that should be further explained in an appendix?

4. Do you see a need to include information from either national or international sources in an appendix? If so, please elaborate and justify any additions in your response to this question.

5. Do you propose adding references to specific ITU Radio Regulations Appendices? Some countries include annexes with references to the ITU Radio Regulations Appendices. These often cover frequency allotment plans, maritime, and ISM. However, many other countries do not include specific references in their NFP documents.

6. To avoid possible confusion between the NFP and its appendices containing the NFAT, do you support renaming the document to “National Frequency Allocation Table (NFAT)”? If so, please provide your rationale for this change, and if not, kindly explain why retaining the current name “NFP” would be preferable in your response.

The NFP document constitutes two parts:

• The Articles, which sets out the structure and purpose of the document, alignment with international and national frameworks, the user categories, and the way in which the NFP is governed.

• Appendices, which contains the NFAT with information on all spectrum bands ranging from 8.3 kHz to 3000 GHz, except for 0–8.3 kHz and 275–3000 GHz, where there are currently no allocations. Spectrum is divided into discrete bands, following the ITU RR Article 5 approach, and each of these bands has a row in the table.

In order to more accurately reflect how spectrum is used in the Kingdom, the structure and content of the NFP have been revised. The changes are set out further in the following sub-sections.

The Articles set the framework for the NFP by defining its purpose, alignment with international and national allocations, user categories and user access, and the governance, revision, and enforcement. The changes to the Articles include revising the definitions and scope to reflect the current regulatory framework, expanding on primary and secondary services, codifying user categories and user access with detailed national footnotes, establishing provisions on the NFAT’s spectrum usage and notes references, and revising and consolidating the procedures for NFP governance and revision.

7. Do you agree with the changes proposed in to the Articles? If not, please explain why.

8. Are there additional changes to the Articles that you believe should be considered?

9. Are there sections of the Articles that would benefit from further clarification?

Column 1 in the NFAT, which sets out the allocation and identification of spectrum from the ITU Radio Regulations related to Region 1, is being retained. Allocations related to Regions 2 and 3 are not included, since these are not directly considered when determining the allocations in the Kingdom. In addition, the previous NFAT included all international footnotes related to each band.  Some footnotes may relate to exceptions to the allocations set out in the ITU RR; for example, a country or countries may have made a band available for a different service that is not harmonised with the rest of the Region(s).  In order to make the NFAT more useful, all international footnotes which are irrelevant to Saudi Arabia have been removed. This approach allows the NFAT to remain a reasonable size without including unnecessary information. Column 2 in the NFAT, which sets out the allocation of spectrum in the Kingdom is being retained.

10. Do you agree that only the ITU RR allocations for Region 1 should be included in the NFAT?  If not, please specify in your response to this question how the ITU RR allocations for Regions 2 and 3 would help in your use of the NFAT.

11. Do you agree that the NFAT should only include international footnotes and references which are specific to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?  If not, please explain in your response to this question which footnotes you would like to have included and how this would help you in your use of the NFAT.

12. Are there any bands where you believe the current allocation of spectrum should be reviewed by CST? (Please specify in your response to this question the frequency band, proposed changes, and the rationale and evidence for the proposal)

13. Are there any spectrum policies which you believe should influence the allocation of spectrum in any band? If so, please provide details of these references in your response to this question.

In the previous NFP it is possible to identify the access of users to spectrum as follows:

a) A band which is identified for users in the Government category is indicated with ‘Government Use’ in the column ‘Usage’ (third column).

b) A band which is identified for users in both the Government as well as the Civil category is indicated with the national footnote KSA 03 in the column ‘KSA Band Allocations and Footnotes’ (second column).

c) A band which is not identified as per (a) or (b) is identified exclusively for users in the Civil category.

To provide a consistent approach and greater clarity, it is proposed to identify all user categories through footnotes included as a new column in the NFAT called “user access category.” These footnotes are set out in Table 1.

14. Do you agree with the footnotes above as a replacement for the previous approach of identifying bands as being accessed by civil, government or shared? If not, please explain in your response to this question your preferred alternative categorisation and how this would help you in your use of the NFP. 

15. Do you propose identifying a new user category other than those mentioned in Table 1? If yes, please explain in your response to this question the basis of your proposal.

16. Do you agree that it is essential to provide user access category information per band in a publicly available document?

17. For public consultation purposes, the user access category column will not be included in the NFAT at this stage, as CST will rely on public input to inform the decision for adding a user access category footnote for each band. Please propose adding the appropriate footnotes from Table 1 to your bands of interest. Please explain the basis of the proposals and the nature of use. (Please specify the frequency band, proposed changes, and the rationale and evidence for the proposal in your response to this question)

The last two columns in the NFAT consolidate and standardise information that is useful for stakeholders to refer to. The “Usage” column includes information on the applications that are common in the band. The Usage column is for informational purposes only and does not limit the current or potential use of spectrum in a particular band unless stated otherwise.  The “Notes” column includes references to national regulations and plans, international harmonisation decisions and references, and other external documents. Further details of the contents of these columns are included in the Appendices of the NFP.

18. Do you agree with the approach of including information on usage and notes references within the document?

19. Is there any additional information which you would find useful to have included in the NFAT? Please explain in your response to this question how any such information would help you in your use of the NFP.

20. Are there any applications that you consider should be included in the usage column? Please explain why you think they should be added. 

21. Are there any bands where you believe the current usage or notes column should be reviewed by CST? (Please specify in your response to this question the frequency band, proposed changes, and the rationale and evidence for the proposal)

22. Were the national footnotes in the previous NFP useful in your use of the NFP? Is there a need to keep them, amend them, or add new similar national footnotes?

1. The radio spectrum is a scarce and strategic national resource. Therefore, it is essential that its utilization be conducted in a manner that ensures maximum efficiency and effectiveness. 

2. The NFP is the key tool in allocation of the radio spectrum in Kingdom. It divides the radio spectrum into a number of optimally sized frequency bands in the NFAT and specifies the general purposes for which these bands may be used under certain conditions. This process is referred to as the allocation of frequency bands for Radiocommunication services. The NFP allocates spectrum to reflect national regulatory policy and national objectives.

3. The NFP constitutes two parts, the Articles and Appendices that include the NFAT and supporting text.

4. The NFP is developed, updated, and approved in accordance with the relevant national legislation, taking into account the international agreements to which KSA is a party. 

5. The NFP is developed based on Article (10) of the Act and Articles (14) and (15) of the Ordinance, reflecting the Kingdom’s current and anticipated future spectrum requirements.

6. The following objectives apply particularly to management of the radio spectrum:

• To achieve optimum utilization of this radio spectrum resource.

• To establish a regulatory framework that promotes and ensures the fair and efficient allocation of radio services.

• To meet the national need of radio spectrum taking into account the strategic national objectives.

• To provide clarity and transparency on the governance of the NFP and the procedures for radio spectrum allocation.

1. The KSA is a signatory to the Constitution and Convention of the ITU. 

2. The RR’s Table of Frequency Allocations lists frequency bands allocated to Radiocommunication services according to three geographic ITU Regions, as described in Appendix 1. Those Regions are defined as ITU Region 1, Region 2 and Region 3. KSA is part of ITU Region 1. 

3. The first column includes the international allocations of Radiocommunication services and footnotes for Region 1 that apply to the KSA in accordance with Article 5 of the RR.

4. The second column of the NFAT includes the national frequency allocations of Radiocommunication services as well as the associated international footnotes. 

5. Radiocommunication services consists of primary and secondary services.

6. Primary services are indicated through capital letters (for example, MOBILE) and secondary services through lower case letters (for example, Mobile). Where a service is stated in capital letters but is followed by additional descriptions in lower case, the service is also a primary service. Lower case qualifiers specify limitations on the scope of a primary service. For example, “MOBILE except aeronautical mobile (R)” means MOBILE remains a primary allocation in the band, but the aeronautical mobile (R) application is explicitly excluded. 

7. The order of the listed services does not suggest any order of priority. Both primary and secondary services can be specified in a band. 

8. A primary service has priority and a right to protection from interference from other services in a band.

9. A secondary service must not cause harmful interference to a primary service using the frequency band, including a primary service that starts to use the frequency band after the secondary service starts. 

10. A secondary service cannot claim protection from harmful interference caused by a primary service using the frequency band, including a primary service that starts to use the frequency band after the secondary service starts. 

11. A secondary service may claim protection from harmful interference caused by another secondary service that is using the frequency band and was licensed after the first-mentioned secondary service.  

1. The NFP consists of two categories of users, Government and Civil. 

2. The Government category refers to security and defence governmental entities.

3. The Civil category refer to the following:

• Civilian Governmental Entities. 

• Licenced Service Providers.

• International Organizations.

• Private enterprises, organizations and entities.

• Individuals.

4. In the NFAT, the access of the two user categories for each band is identified in the user category column.

5. The first two national footnotes identify either Government or Civil use only. 

6. The third, fourth and fifth national footnotes identify shared use, but with different prioritisation and restrictions on use. 

7. The national footnotes are as follows: 

• KSA 1:  This band is designated for civilian use only. Government use is not permitted.

• KSA 2:  This band is designated for government use only. Civilian use is not permitted.

• KSA 3: This band is designated for civilian use. Government use may be permitted only with prior approval from CST and under coordination terms agreed upon with CST.

• KSA 4: This band is accessible to both government and civilian users in accordance with the technical and operational conditions set by CST. CST oversees assignment coordination to ensure sharing and fair access, avoid congestion, and support national spectrum policy objectives. Sharing may be enabled through mechanisms such as, but not limited to, time-based access, geographic limitations, database solutions, and through specification of technical requirements.

• KSA 5: This band is designated for government use. Civilian use may be permitted only with prior approval from CST and under coordination terms agreed upon with CST.

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1. The usage column in the NFAT Indicates information on the current or future applications related to the allocated radio services in a band in KSA.

2. The indication of the usage does not mean that it is limited and exclusive to it in each band unless stated otherwise.

3. The notes column in the NFAT Indicates references to national regulations and plans, international harmonization decisions and references, and other external documents.

4. Blanks in the usage and notes column do not mean that the frequency band is not used for any service or is not regulated.

1. Radio spectrum use and licensing in the KSA shall be in accordance to the NFP unless it is for trial purposes in accordance to the procedures defined by CST. 

2. CST shall revise and update the NFP to reflect national requirements, market developments, advancements in the radiocommunication sector, and the outcomes of relevant decisions adopted and ratified by successive WRCs.

3. CST approves the changes to the NFP that include changes to its contents, excluding changes to the “user category” column. Approval of any modifications to the “user category” column shall be made in accordance with the relevant national legislations and regulatory frameworks.

4. CST is responsible for developing implementation plans to address existing uses which do not conform with the NFAT. Spectrum users shall adhere to the implementation plans to conform with the NFP.

5. Spectrum users shall bear the cost of modification or replacement of equipment caused by the implementation plan.​