Our Stories
West Sepik Administration rely on HF radio during Election Period
High Frequency (HF) Radio is still a vital part of PNG’s diverse media sector and has been since well before independence in 1973. In today’s media environment, HF radio remains a big part of the country’s most remote community’s way of accessing and sharing information and also connecting to the outside of their community.
Apart from using the HF radio to access transport services for medivac and bringing services to the remote communities HF radio has become a convenient tool for accessing reliable public information which is crucial for both urban and rural citizens of Papua New Guinea.
This has been proven through MAF Technologies recent HF Radio installations which was successfully done by the MAF Technologies, Technical Manager, Lukas Schadegg for the West Sepik Administration.
Two HF radios were funded by the West Sepik Administration for the Provincial Administration at Aitape and the Provincial Administration at Nuku. “This new technology (HF Radio) will be a big help in disseminating government information from the top level to the ward level.” Said a provincial administration officer.
Although there were mobile network services available within the province the network was not stable causing an inconvenience when it came to distribute vital information within the province. An example was seen leading up to the election, when a member flew into the province but no supporters where onsite to welcome the member and show their support because they were unaware of his arrival due to the lack of reliable communication devices available to communicate and share information about the members arrival.
Lukas Schadegg made a remark saying “it was great to witness firsthand how the Sepik Administration addressed the big need for communication especially for locations that need it the most and they also intend to have more radios installed for the local level government also.”
Lukas added that the HF Radio will also generate more services into the community where there are numerous needs for education service, health services and other general services that would benefit the communities within Aitape and the Nuku Districts. He concluded that the West Sepik Administration hope for more HF radios to be installed in the future after seeing the positive impact that the HF Radio has brought into their province.