Maputo, 13 Feb (AIM) – The National Communications Institute of Mozambique (INCM), the regulatory body for telecommunications, has decided to switch off the transmitters of three community radio stations in the northern province of Nampula.
The radio stations in question are Encontro, Haq and Vida, which are viewed by some people as critical channels against the government of the ruling Frelimo party.
According to an INCM statement, the decision to shut down the three community radio stations is related to the allegation that there is an “interference of radio signals with communications from the control tower at Nampula Airport, as well as with aircraft approaching the airport.”
The document points out that the closure of these radio stations follows a complaint from the publicly-owned company Airports of Mozambique, in which the company claimed that there was signal interference.
“The INCM deployed a technical team to identify the source of the interference. The team’s preliminary conclusions indicate that the joint emission of the Encontro, Haq and Vida radios generates a signal that causes interference in the aeronautical mobile service communications, making it difficult for the control tower to communicate with the aircraft”, reads the statement.
According to the document, given the danger that the situation poses to human lives, the INCM notified the three radio stations “and ordered the temporary switch-off of the transmitters with immediate effect, for as long as the interference continues.”
“The INCM, in its capacity as the country’s Communications Regulatory Authority, is working with the three radio stations to resolve the interference and, consequently, re-establish their respective broadcasts”, the document says.
The Nampula airport and the radio stations have been operating for decades, without anybody complaining of interference.
Radio Encontro is owned by the Catholic Church, and one of the radio’s collaborators, Catholic priest Bonifacio Raca, cited by the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”,wrote an angry letter to the INCM. He did not mince his words: “How long will you be in the service of evil rather than the common good?”, he asked the regulator.
“What wrong has RadioEncontro committed?”, he continued. “For you, is speaking the truth a crime? Are you pleased with the lies spread by TVM (Mozambique Television), Radio Mozambique and the newspapers Noticias, Domingo and Desafio?” (These are the main publicly owned media).
He pointed out that Radio Encontro has been on the air for more than 30 years, “and is it only now that it is interfering with aircraft navigation? Do you think we are so stupid that we don’t understand anything?”
Raca claimed that shutting down Radio Encontro was a disguised attack on the Catholic Church, supposedly ordered by the government.
(AIM)
Ad/pf (447)
