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Electronic Communications Act, 2005 (Act No. 36 of 2005)

Regulations

Radio Frequency Spectrum Amendment Regulations, 2021

Part VI - Specific Services

24. Communal Repeater Station Services.

 

(1) A communal radio repeater station service may not be provided to one (1) client only.

 

(2) No person shall interconnect a communal radio repeater station service without the approval of the Authority, provided that such approval shall only be considered in cases where multi-channel allocations are already in use on a communal radio repeater station service.

 

(3) The Authority may issue an additional assignment for a communal radio station service to a licensee if each of the licensee's existing communal radio repeater stations in the same area services no less than ten (10) clients and one-hundred (100) two-way radios.

 

(4) An assignment may be refused on the grounds that the licensee's existing communal radio repeater station service or services does not or do not comply with the requirements specified in these regulations.

 

(5) An assignment may be issued by the Authority if proof of channel occupancy, to justify the application, is furnished.

 

(6) A licensee of a communal radio repeater station service who is experiencing coverage obstacles should submit proof that he or she has tested alternative technical solutions without success before he or she applies for an additional communal radio repeater station service assignment in the same working area.

 

(7) No person shall operate or use a communal radio repeater station service unless:
(a) tone signalling is built into all stations in the system and provided that, if the Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System (CTCSS) signalling method is not used, some other method of automatic control shall be used to ensure that contact with the repeater station is maintained at the end of each message in order to enable the recipient of the message to reply;
(b) each station is equipped with a 2-minute forced repeater-release facility, provided that the forced release shall not be exclusively dependant on the discontinuance of the carrier;
(c) the communal radio repeater station has a facility to prevent any user group from re-engaging it within one minute of completing a call;
(d) all transceivers have a built-in facility to prevent the transmission of a carrier while the communal radio repeater station is being used by other clients and by means of which it can be ascertained whether the system is engaged; and
(e) the transmitter power is set at the levels as approved by the Authority.

 

(8) A licensee of a communal radio repeater station service must keep a register of:
(a) each user connected to the service, reflecting the user's name and address as well as the address of the base station when applicable;
(b) any additional users connected to the service during the previous calendar year;
(c) particulars of persons who had cancelled the use of the service during the course of the said calendar year.

 

(9) A copy of the register must be made available to the Authority on request and will, if an application is made for a licence for an additional communal radio repeater station in a specific area, accompany such application in confirmation of the clients and stations served by an existing system in that area.

 

(10) At the end of each year, a licensee must send a copy of the register by certified post to the Authority to reach it not later than 31 January of the following year.