Radio Stations Must Pay Attention Details of Authorizations - NCA

By Julius Yao Petetsi

THE National Communications Authority (NCA) has urged holders of broadcasting spectrums to pay attention to details of their authorisations in order to avoid any fracas with the Authority.

According to the Director General of the Authority, Joe Anokye, authorisations given by the NCA expires hence the need for holders of same to be proactive and renew them in line with the NCA Act.

"When you go for your driver's licence, there is an expiration date. Some of you travel outside (the country) and you are given five years (visas). Don't you pay attention to these expiry dates," Mr Anokye asked in an interview with journalists on the sideline of this year's World Telecommunications and Information Society Day.

"Every entity that comes to the regulator for authorisation has a finite date... ... and you certainly have to keep track of the expiry date. All that we are saying is that if you have an authorisation, there is a finite date that is given, and that must be obliged," he added.

Mr Anokye's admonishment comes barely a week after the Authority closed down two opposition NDC affiliated radio stations; Radio Gold and Radio XYZ for not having the authorisation to operate several years after their authorisations expired.

Opening the day earlier, Mr Anokye said the NCA had invested heavily in technical monitoring equipment which enables the Authority play its regulatory role and ensure compliance of all required quality of service key performance indicators.

Expressing the NCA's readiness to work with stakeholders for best telecommunication standards to be attained, Mr Anokye said Ghana would continue to play by the global standards as a member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) without fear or favour.

A Deputy Minister of Communications, George Nenyi Andah, admitted that fake phones were on the Ghanaian market and that Ghana would have to go the route of other African countries by disconnecting them because they posed health threat to consumers.

In this regard, Mr Andah, who doubles as the Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya West, tasked the NCA to liaise with the mobile network operators to determine the level of risk these fake phones, which don't have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), posed to the citizenry.

He called on stakeholders to rise in unison to help fight telecommunication related crimes which include broadcasting without authorisation, mobile money fraud, money laundering, SIM box fraud amongst others.

Mr Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, the Board Chairman of the NCA, in a speech on behalf of the Secretary-General of the ITU, Haulin Zhao, called on members to support their respective communications authorities for the digital gap between the served, underserved and unserved to be bridged.

The 2019 World Telecommunications and Information Society Day, the 153 since its inception, was on the theme "Bridging the Standardisation Gap."

With the Ghana, United Nations and the International Telecommunications Union flags hoisted to mark the day, it brought together service providers within the telecoms sector, consumers, security agencies, advocacy groups amongst others.

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