National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, has commended the Governing Board of the National Communications Authority (NCA) for facilitating the approval of licenses for 133 radio stations.
Mr. George said the Board had shown good faith by swiftly approving the license in less than three weeks of being constituted.
“There have been a number of hurdles, but we can only express our profound gratitude to the new board, led by its Chairman, Isaac Osei Bonsu, for working with the roadmap that they came to meet.”
“Another board and its chairman could have decided that they would scrap everything and start everything which could have set us back two, three years but this board came and less than three weeks of being in office, they reviewed the progress we had made and thought that it was right, and we can only commend them for reinstating the frequency,” Mr. George said on Eyewitness News.
The stations, including Accra-based Radio Gold, Atlantis Radio, and Radio XYZ, were fined or had their licenses revoked by the National Communications Authority (NCA) following a nationwide FM Spectrum Audit in 2017.
Radio XYZ was fined GH¢ 4,090,000, Atinka FM GH¢ 14,800,000, while Radio Gold and Atlantis Radio picked up the heftiest fines with GH¢ 61,330,000 and GH¢ 60, 350,000 respectively.
Radio Gold, for example, was at the time accused of operating with a license that expired in the year 2000.
HOWEVER, the NCA on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, indicated that the licenses of these stations had been approved, paving the way for their operations in the country.
Mr. George also extended his appreciation to legislators in Parliament who were instrumental in ensuring that the licenses of the affected radio stations were approved.
The NCA has said the approval is “subject to the applicants attending a sensitisation workshop on the terms and conditions of FM radio broadcasting authorisations.”
