SECTOR 2 Telecommunications in Congo (ARPTC) a tax. It has been established that there are some among the operators that are nearly 100 months in arrears. Furthermore, the Regulatory Authority for Posts and Telecommunications in Congo, which is directly linked to the Presidency of the Republic, collects all bills incurred by telephone activity at the expense of the OCPT, which consequently sustained losses. Incoming calls made to the DRC are in fact not charged to the account of the OCPT, as calls made from outside the country feature like a local number on mobile phone displays of correspondents in the DRC. In other words, the call does not go through the +243 code and cannot be charged as an international call. The ICT sector hence, is in shambles, due to ulterior objectives, which impedes its development. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 1.0 2.10 Government does not use its power over the placement of advertisements as a means to interfere with editorial content. Government advertising contracts are rare. In cases in which they are awarded, this takes place without the client’s participation, procedures being conducted on an ad hoc basis. The media entities that benefit, are not always the ones that apply for advertising but the ones that benefit from political support and are preselected in advance and quite often according to their affinities towards the regime in place. 96 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Democratic Republic of Congo