Private broadcasters in the country have said that it is unfair for Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) to transit to new frequencies without giving them time to prepare their listeners.

The development follows after Macra switched some radio stations’ frequencies to new ones , as an effort to free the FM band which it says was saturated and caused interferences. The broadcasters have also complained that Macra did not consider their concerns that were raised after the regulatory body’s consultants came up with results of a study to rebrand the frequency modulation (FM) band on which most of the private radios have their frequencies.

However, Macra spectrum management deputy director Patrick Musiyapo, who said they are yet to officially announce the changes, said the broadcasters were given enough notice. He said: “They have not been ambushed. The project started in 2017 and we invited all broadcasters to tell them the problems we were facing. There was congestion on the FM band causing too much interference, so we embarked on a decongesting drive since 2017 which we finished in 2019.”