[kictanet] CCK shuts down illegal broadcast transmitters

[Wambua, Christopher]

Listers,

 

CCK shuts down unauthorized broadcast transmitters 

 

The Commission has this morning shut down six Royal Media Services
broadcast transmitters in Nakuru, Narok, Mukuyuni (Makueni) and Mabrui
(Malindi) which were being operated without a licence and using
unauthorized or 'grabbed' frequencies. 

 

The six are part of 17 transmitters put up illegally by Royal Media
Services in the recent past without a licence from CCK, and therefore in
contravention of the law.  Some of the transmitters are located in
non-designated broadcasting sites thus causing interferences to other
critical services including aviation.  A further 22 FM and 2 TV
unauthorized frequencies that Royal Media Services acquired in the same
manner between 2008 and 2012 are pending adjudication in the courts. 

 

Section 35 of the Kenya Information and Communications Act, 1998,
outlaws the setting up and operation of communications apparatus without
authorization from CCK.

 

Addressing the media today, CCK Director General Mr. Francis W. Wangusi
said the illegal transmitters were causing interferences to broadcasters
in Kenya and the region, and interfering with avionic communication thus
threatening the safety of Kenya's airspace. 

 

"In some instance the interferences are so intense that the services of
other broadcasters using duly authorized frequencies have been rendered
completely inoperable," said Mr. Wangusi.  

 

He added that the safety of our airspace was under threat as these
illegal transmitters had on a number of occasions caused interferences
to communication between pilots and the control tower at our main
airports.  

 

The Commission shall in the next few days shut down the remaining 11
illegal stations to ensure that all players in the broadcasting sector
operate within the law. 

 

CCK is the only state organ charged with the responsibility of managing
Kenya's frequency spectrum.  Central management of the frequency
spectrum is critical in ensuring orderly exploitation of this scarce and
limited resource, and to avoid interferences among various spectrum
users. 

 

All spectrum users, therefore, are required to operate under a licence
issued by CCK and which must be kept in force through adherence to the
operational parameters stipulated in the licence.  Mr. Wangusi said the
grab up of frequencies had no place in Kenya, where there is an existing
institutional framework in place for managing frequencies.  

 

Unauthorized use of spectrum amounts to an act of impunity and flies in
the face of the regulatory requirement to provide an equal platform for
all players.  It also denies the regulator of spectrum resources to
address the policy objectives of plurality and diversity, and to cater
for devolution requirements as envisaged in the constitution.  

 

The full press statement by the CCK Director General is attached. 

 

 

Christopher Wambua

Manager/Communications

Consumer and Public Affairs Division 

Communications Commission of Kenya

P.O. Box 14448, NAIROBI 00800

KENYA

 

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