Partnership, membership and collaboration

The RFUANZ committee elected at this year’s annual meeting includes myself as Chairman, Vice Chairman David Johnston (Logic Wireless), Secretary Debby Morgan, Treasurer Gary Stevens (Informatics) and the committee comprising Dale Roberts (Go Wireless), John Laughton (CRS Communications), Mike Head (Tait Communications), Logan Caulfield (CSE Genesis) and Roger Silcock (AC-WB Technologies). A face-to-face planning meeting of the committee will be held in July.

A new membership fee structure was adopted at our annual general meeting; details can be found on our website. We believe this highlights to new members the kinds of services the RFUANZ provides in spectrum planning and management, and offers entry-level membership to those possibly in the public safety sector.

A very big thank you to all those who attended the annual RFUANZ Gala Dinner, which hosted 216 attendees, the largest number to date. It was an evening to celebrate the many successes of our industry and an opportunity to reward those successes, and thank the people who have added exceptional value to their companies and RFUANZ.

This year we introduced a partnership program to annualise the benefits for sponsorship to our partners; categories and partners can be found on our website. If you require more information on next year’s partnership program, please contact our administrator, Debby Morgan.

The annual awards were also restructured this year, with RFUANZ presenting all six industry awards. We renamed the Service to the Industry award to ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, which this year was awarded to Trevor Laughton from Tait Communications. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our judges. They remain anonymous, but included an independent consultant, a representative of St Johns and an employee of Kordia. They had a difficult task, given the high calibre of nominees in all award categories. For more details on our award recipients, please visit our website: www.rfuanz.org.nz.

Dale Roberts and I were asked to speak on behalf of RFUANZ at the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association of New Zealand (WISPA NZ) AGM held in Wellington on 26 June. RFUANZ had been approached by WISPA NZ, as it is hoped that the two organisations may collaborate for mutual benefit on areas of common interest. Examples of these areas could include spectrum policy, GURL sovereignty, NZQA qualifications, ensuring RSM works in harmony with the industry requirements, co-siting and access during civil defence emergencies. More will be made available on this topic in the coming months.

Corey Weir, Chairman

Radio Frequency Users Association of New Zealand

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