Friday, Jean Marie Altéma the Director General of the National Council of Telecommunications (CONATEL) in a press conference declared "the reality today is that we have lots of radios, many are in a regular and legal situation, but there are many others who are in an irregular and illegal situation," specifying "all over the country, there are 697 radio stations only on the FM band, of which 347 are illegal."

Besides this aspect of legality, there is the problem of interference between stations due to the saturation of the FM band (for legal stations): + 158% in the metropolitan area (West Department); + 108% in Artibonite, + 122% in the North and Northeast and + 122% in the South.

Adding "[...] every day we have requests for frequency assignments or requests for authorizations for the operation of radio station, but we can not meet these demands because it is technically impossible..."

Furthermore, Jean Marie Altéma, said that CONATEL continued to receive complaints from the National Office of Civil Aviation (OFNAC) for FM stations that do not meet the standards of CONATEL on power and height of antenna towers, nor the frequency separation required by the international Telecommunication Union (ITU) of 400 kilohertz, which cause severe interference on aeronautical frequencies in use, a situation that can have very serious consequences if a pilot was unable to clearly receive communications from the control tower.

Based on the fact that 347 of the 697 stations are not legally registered, Jean Marie Altéma considers that the first step will be an adjustment phase, claiming to work on a plan to regulate the situation, lamenting a lack of technical and financial resources. Furthermore, he said that CONATEL has already launched an inspection operation of antenna towers, some not meeting the height were destroyed at the same time he stressed that the legal service of his institution will shortly carry out interventions, for the closure of illegal radio stations with problems.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18186-haiti-notice-the-conatel-threat-illegal-radios.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13657-haiti-technology-set-of-measures-to-regularize-telecommunications.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13466-haiti-flash-clandestine-entities-threaten-aviation-safety.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-12571-haiti-telecommunication-interference-and-fraud-towards-a-bilateral-solution.html

SL/ HaitiLibre