The Communications Authority Zambia (CAZ) has set November 1, 2009 as
the deadline for all radio stations to migrate to the new broadcasting
frequencies that have been created, according to a report in The Times of Zambia.
CAZ technical services director, Patrick Mutimushi said the November deadline for FM radio stations whose slots were currently occupied while the October deadline was meant for FM stations without migration dependence.
Mr Mutimushi said the frequency re-planning had been done in order to address the current demand and make available more frequencies to support future growth in the broadcasting sector.
"For a long time there have been complaints from people who have been denied licences to set up radio stations because frequencies were not available," he said. He explained that the new plan would allow for an average of 25 planned channels per broadcasting area, which represents an increase of 400 per cent in capacity.
Mr Mutimushi said that the current FM broadcasting was operating on the Geneva 1984 (GE84) plan which only allowed for six channels per broadcasting area and had become inadequate due to the increased demand and the socio-economic growth.
He said the new plan would operate on a narrower channel bandwidth, averaging 150 kilo hertz (kHz), which would allow for more channels per broadcasting area as compared to the previous 300 kHz under the GE84 plan.
Click here to read the full report, posted on allafrica.com.
