Radio Spectrum Management API

The Radio Spectrum Management API allows the searching and update of information within the Register of Radio Frequencies.

What is the Register of Radio Frequencies?

The Register of Radio Frequencies (RFF) is a public online register of radio licences, spectrum licences and management rights issued by Radio Spectrum Management (RSM) in New Zealand.

The Register holds all information of assigned frequency use including the licence or spectrum rightholder details and the time period for which the licence or spectrum right has been allocated. The Register also enables online searching, licence applications, spectrum licence forms, independent engineering of licences, fee payments, licence transfers and cancellations.

The Radio Spectrum Management API provides a range of operations for:

  • The management of Radio and Spectrum Licenses

  • Maintenance and information of reference data

  • Searching the Register of Radio Frequencies for Radio and Spectrum Licence information

  • Searching the Register of Radio Frequencies for information relating to Aid to Navigation (ATON) records

  • Searching the Register of Radio Frequencies for information relating to Callsigns

Using the API

Follow these steps to get up and running:

Read the technical details

View the API definition in our developer portal here. You can also download the definition for viewing in Swagger Editor, Swagger Hub, or other tools.
Note: The API definition in the developer portal incorrectly renders the GeoreferenceDetails object. Please direct download the 0.9.2 API definition from here then use alternative tools such as linked above to import and visualise the definition.

Subscribe to the API

Log in and subscribe to the Radio Spectrum Management API Product. Refer to the table below to determine which subscription method is most appropriate for your needs. Our API support team may request further information before the subscription can be approved.

Generate an API subscription key

For full details on how to generate an API subscription key please see here.

Once your subscription has been approved you will be able use your API credentials to successfully call the API. Use the sandbox key and sandbox endpoints in your software development. Once you've completed testing simply use your production keys to access the live service.

Generate an OAuth2 token if required

There are two options for subscribing to the API. For most users who only need to search and get public information from the register the subscription key method is all that's needed. In some cases, a subscription that also requires an OAuth2 token may be necessary:

  • Use the two-legged OAuth subscription if you need to have the additional security of a short-life access token. Technical details of how to generate a two-legged OAuth2 token are available here.

Version History

Changes to the RSM API definition are covered in the table below.

Maintenance Window

Reduced levels of service or outages may occur during the Radio Spectrum maintenance window Wednesdays 21:00 - 23:00 New Zealand time.

The sandbox environment may experience brief outages during and after business hours when software releases for the Register of Radio Frequencies is carried out.

Rate limiting

Rate limiting is applied to Register of Radio Frequencies resources with a maximum of rate of requests of 200 per minute per user.
A 429 status response will be returned by the gateway if the rate limit has been reached.

Further Details

Further information relating to the radio spectrum usage, fixed and mobile band service plans, and the underpinning radio licensing polices can be referenced here.