National Federation Party’s Vice President, Lenora Qereqeretabua is today questioning why the analogue television services have been taken away which has affected many people and why TV stations are being forced to only broadcast through the Government’s Walesi platform by the Communications Ministry.
People in the affected areas can no longer access the TV signals via an antenna connected to their television set.
Qereqeretabua asks how does Government expect 50% of our population who are either in poverty or on the margins of poverty, to fork out money for both the Walesi set-top box and a suitable UHF antenna, when they are struggling to put food on the table for their families and children.
She says she knows Walesi set-top boxes may have been distributed for free but people still need money to pay for the recommended 43-element UHF antenna and installation.
Qereqeretabua says the people of Fiji need to know about unfolding issues with the Walesi communications network, which has now cut off many of our citizens’ access to free to air television.
She says this is about control.
Qereqeretabua raises the possibility of the Government threatening all TV stations over their content. She says they can say “if you are against us, we will cut you off”.
She says if TV stations can only deliver their channels on a Government network, the Government can do that.
Qereqeretabua says it is also about grabbing money. She says the Government has spent tens of millions of dollars on Walesi and is trying to get some of it back by forcing TV stations to pay.
The NFP Vice President says since 2018, the Government has allocated more than $50 million to fund Walesi.
In 2018-19 it was $19 million, in 2019-20 it was $10 million, in 2020-21 it was $10 million and for the current year it is $15 million.
Qereqeretabua says to set up a system like Walesi, it should cost, at most $12 million to $15 million.
She says Walesi Pte Limited is a 100% Government company, formed in 2015 and it has never published its accounts and never presented them to Parliament.
Qereqeretabua says each of Fiji TV, FBC and Mai TV have their own transmission systems.
She says they have invested millions of dollars in them and continue to pay for them.
She says now these TV stations are not allowed to deliver their services on their own networks and everything must be through Walesi.
Qereqeretabua says these TV companies are being told “you must pay Walesi for this service”. The amounts they are hearing are between $600,000 and $700,000 per year for each channel.
But she says there are tens of thousands of people who do not have Walesi or find it unreliable.
She says they will continue to investigate this as there is much more to emerge about this shocking situation.
We have sent questions to Minister for Communications, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and Walesi.
When questioned, Walesi CEO Sanjay Maharaj told fijivillage that their 2015, 2016 and 2017 annual accounts have been audited and submitted to the Ministry of Economy and the Registrar of Companies.
He says their 2018 and 2019 Annual accounts is currently being audited by the Office of the Auditor General which should be complete by the end of this month.
Maharaj adds their 2020 accounts has also been submitted to the Office of the Auditor General and it will be audited next year.
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