None meets criteria for 13 commercial FM Radio station licenses: EBA

Addis Ababa, January 21, 2016 (FBC) – The Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority (EBA) said it has so far found no bidder that meet the criteria of the tender floated for the acquisition of license for commercial FM Radio station.

The authority planned to issue licenses to 13 commercial FM radio stations – six in Addis Ababa and the remaining in main cities at regional state, Workneh Tafa, Public Relations Coordination Head at EBA said.

However, the authority has so far found no contender that fulfill the stated criteria, he said.

The tender stayed open for 60 days and about 39 applicants took the document. However, No one was able to meet the commercial radio regulation number 1/2000.

According to Workneh, majority of the applicants failed to meet the criteria due to financial and capacity limitation.

Workneh called on bidders in Addis Ababa and at regional state to come up again with strong capacity as the tender will be refloated in less than a week.

The authority is working to increase the number and type of the broadcasting sector in the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-II) period, he said.

Works are underway to convert the existing analog TV to digital as well as to issue license for private TV station, he said.

Currently, seven licensed commercial FM radio stations are functioning across the country.