Nepal: New Community Radio Licensing Policy

11 Feb 2010

Minister for Information and Communication Shankar Pokhrel today said that the government has adopted a policy of not providing licence to an organisation to operate more than one FM radio. He informed that the government is endorsing a new policy regarding the renewal of licence and the royalty.

The new policy is especially targeted at upgrading the service of the community radio, added the minister, addressing a programme on ‘Community Radios: Opportunities and Challenges’ organised here today.

He said that one of the challenges before the government rests on drawing the boundaries between the commercial and community radio stations and to define legal provisions.

He also informed that the government is in a process to distributing public welfare advertisements to the electronic media through a new regulation.

It was informed that the broadcast on radio have reached around 85 per cent of the total population. The presence of community radio, which broadcast programme in more than 50 languages, is felt in around 67 districts.

Bishnu Hari Dhakal, president of the Broadcasting Association of Nepal, drew the attention of the government towards the problems caused by power outage and said that radio stations are on the verge of closure due to load-shedding.

Source: Himalayan Times