SECTOR 2 Radio Radio is the most affordable and most popular medium in Mauritius, primarily because it is accessible in a wide variety of languages. The Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation runs six radio stations - MBC Kool FM, MBC Taal FM, MBC World Hit Radio, MBC Best FM (recently launched), MBC Radio Maurice, and MBC Radio Mauritius on AM. There are three private commercial radio stations: Radio One, Radio Plus and Top FM. No community radio stations exist in Mauritius. The private radio sector in Mauritius can still be considered to be in its infancy. Radio One initially started operating as phone-in service, wherein people would call a number and listen to broadcasts from the station. It had been ready to broadcast and was prepared to do so for some time, but was not granted a licence until eight years ago when two other private radio stations were also granted licences to operate. Radio France International and the British Broadcasting Corporation are accessible through FM or AM respectively. This resistance by the State to new players in the broadcasting industry was probably due to the realisation that the advent of private radio stations would transform the media landscape. Private radio stations provide an alternative and easily accessible medium through which the general population may express itself and retain anonymity. Opinions that cannot be expressed on state radio can be heard on private radio stations. It also changed the way the print media operate and report, by challenging print media to stretch itself beyond just providing hard news, and providing content with substance, analysis, commentary and more indepth content. Currently, each radio station has 3 radio frequencies – one for the south, one for the north and one for the central part of the island. Considering there are 6 radio stations each with 3 frequencies, it is clear that the bandwidth may easily become congested. This fact has presented itself as a convenient excuse for inhibiting new players from entering the broadcast sector, with new applicants being told that there are no more frequencies to allocate. Television The Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation runs the following television channels: MBC 1, MBC 2, MBC 3, the Knowledge Channel and MBC Movies Channel. In October 2010, Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam launched the Mandarin Channel, Marathi Channel, Tamil Channel, Telugu Channel, Urdu Channel and the Tourism and Culture Channel. It is very likely that a Bhojpuri channel will soon be launched. Every Mauritian citizen who owns a television set is obliged to pay a monthly TV license fee of Rs 100 (US$2.8). This fee is collected through the electricity billing AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MAURITIUS 2010 25