(SPP/IFEX) – The Treasury Inspector’s Office informed Víctor Bogado, president of the National Telecommunications Commission (Comision Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, CONATEL), that the scheduled public auction for the granting of broadcasting radio frequencies was illegal. Short and medium-range FM frequencies for community based, educational and locally-owned radio stations were to have been up for bidding. The […]
(SPP/IFEX) – The Treasury Inspector’s Office informed Víctor Bogado, president of the National Telecommunications Commission (Comision Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, CONATEL), that the scheduled public auction for the granting of broadcasting radio frequencies was illegal. Short and medium-range FM frequencies for community based, educational and locally-owned radio stations were to have been up for bidding.
The Treasury Inspector’s Office’s official letter explains that the call to a public auction for the allocation of frequencies to community radio stations did not conform with Telecommunications Law 642 and Decree 14.135 under that law. These legal documents clearly stipulate that frequencies are to be allotted to community radio stations via “official approval”.
According to the Treasury Inspector’s Office’s analysis, the Telecommunications Law and its regulations stipulate that short-range radio broadcasting falls under the rules for “other services”. Community, educational, and local radio stations are considered alternative media outlets and should therefore be included under those services that are “officially granted”. In other words, it is not necessary to announce a public auction to grant such frequencies.
As a result, CONATEL’s president was advised by the Treasury Inspector’s Office that CONATEL needs to adjust its internal rules on the allocation criteria for Short and Medium-Range Broadcasting Frequencies. Alternatively, CONATEL could opt to have Article 20 of Law 642 modified in Congress.
Upon becoming aware of the Treasury Inspector’s Office position, Comunica, one of the country’s community radio station organisations, stated that “one of the main demands of the community radio stations sector has been heeded. We have always rejected public auctions as a means of allocating frequencies to community radio stations. Furthermore, we have repeatedly condemned the rules that CONATEL approved without reaching an agreement with our sector.”
