Macra prepares for World Radio meet
The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) organised a day-long national stakeholders meeting in Blantyre yesterday ahead of the World Radio Conference slated for 2015.
Richard Chisala, Macra board member and chairperson of the technical committee, said the meeting, attended by spectrum users that included fixed line and mobile phone operators, was a preparatory process to the 2015 conference to take place outside Malawi.
Chisala, who was guest of honour, said the Southern African Development Committee (Sadc) is expected to prepare a draft report on wide range of issues in the telecommunication sector for presentation at the conference.
He said in an interview later that Malawi is expected to come up with a position on regulatory issues, and being chair of the Sadc, Malawi is expected to provide guidance and good leadership to the process at Sadc level.
Chisala said the world radio conference is a platform where stakeholders review frequency and spectrum issues and Malawi is expected to put an input how the spectrum is used.
He said another consultative meeting will be held in Lilongwe.
At the yesterday’s meeting, participants were expected to consider additional spectrum allocations to the mobile service and identification of additional frequency bands for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) and others.
The meeting was also set to consider regulatory provisions and spectrum allocations to enable possible new Automatic Identification System (AIS) technology applications and possible new applications to improve maritime radio communication.
