The Independent
Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), has announced that it has officially concluded
its initial evaluation of applications to pre-register for Community Television
Broadcasting Service and Radio Frequency Spectrum licences for the provision of
community television broadcasting services on Multiplex 1 frequencies.
It revealed
in a statement that, a total of 20 applications have met all the
prequalification criteria, and now proceed to the next phase 1 of the
evaluation and licensing process.
The Authority
had initially received 37 applications in response to the Invitation to
Pre-register ("ITP-R"), which was issued on 30 June 2022. However, 17
applications were disqualified from the ITP-R licencing process due to failure
to meet the pre-qualification criteria.
The ICASA
Councillor Adv. Mkumatela who doubled as the Chairperson of the Council
Committee overseeing the process noted that community broadcasting plays an
essential role in South Africa as a source of information, in promoting social
cohesion, fostering diversity, and uplifting communities; adding that this step
is such a significant milestone that will also deal with some of the challenges
that have plagued the community broadcasting sector.
The Authority
now invites stakeholders and interested parties to submit written representations
with respect to the 20 successful applications that are admitted to Phase 1 of
the ITP-R licensing process. Such representations must be submitted to the
Authority within fourteen working days from the date of publication of the
Notice (30 March 2023).
“The
representations are intended to, among other things, ascertain whether there
are any objections to the applications in any particular municipality; this
will also help and empower ICASA to ensure that it licences organizations that
will effectively serve as tools for empowerment in their respective
communities,” added Adv Mkumatela.
