NCA to close down selected television stations

After taking their stand on some defaulted radio stations, the National Communications Authority (NCA) will soon clamp down on television stations and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) flouting its regulations.

The Head of Consumer and Corporate Affairs of the NCA, Nana Dufie Badu, who confirmed this to the media, stated, the NCA was poised to streamline the operations of all companies within the industry.

This will be after it completes a thorough audit it is conducting into the operations of companies within the sector.

She said the NCA’s recent actions against radio stations that have violated their terms of authorisation was not an act of political witch-hunting.

“The NCA had to face the Public Accounts Committee for something of this sort to answer as to why it had allowed some companies it regulates to close down, and not to pay the required regulatory fees. This is an effort that the NCA is making to streamline the operations of all service providers within the communication industry. This is not aimed at any of the FM broadcasting stations,” she said.

“A similar audit is also going on for TV services and ISPs among others… If there are companies that are not in compliance with the terms and conditions of the authorization, they will be sanctioned”, Nana Dufie indicated.

A total of 131 radio stations, including Accra based-Radio Gold, Atlantis Radio and Radio XYZ were sanctioned by the National Communications Authority (NCA) on Friday for various violations of the terms of their authorization.

The offences included operating without a license, and operating with expired license among others.

The sanctions meted out to them ranged from fines to the total revocation of licenses. Radio XYZ was fined GHc 4,090,000, while Atinka FM was fined GHc 14,800,000.

Radio Gold and Atlantis Radio were fined GHc 61,330,000 and GHc 60,350,000 respectively.