The regulator ordered the Unity Labour Party’s radio station to stop broadcasting immediately over a license that expired in April. The station says the NTRC acted beyond its powers and that it now has the paperwork the commission was waiting for.
Star FM stays on the air despite an order from the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to stop transmitting immediately, with the Unity Labour Party telling Vincypowa News on Saturday that the NTRC “has acted ultra vires/in breach of the Telecommunications Act.”
“Star radio continues operations as normal on both frequencies and online,” ULP Communications Director Augustine Ferdinand said in a statement to VPN on behalf of the station. “It must be noted that Star Radio is fully compliant with CIPO as we have received Good standing status.”
The response sets up a direct standoff between the opposition party’s radio station and the state regulator. In a letter dated Thursday, October 8, the NTRC told Star Broadcasting Corp Ltd to “cease transmitting on 98.3MHz and 104.7MHz frequencies immediately,” because the company does not hold a valid FM radio broadcast license.
Star FM has openly identified itself with the ULP since its launch in February 2008. Its own website calls it “the medium of choice and the voice of the Unity Labour Party (ULP).” With the ULP now in opposition after the New Democratic Party won the last general election, the order targets the party’s own broadcast outlet.
Why the NTRC wants Star FM off the air
The letter, signed by NTRC Secretary and Director Apollo Knights and addressed to Star Broadcasting secretary Julian Francis, says the station may return only once it obtains a new license and frequency authorization “from the Minister responsible for Telecommunications.”
The sticking point, according to the NTRC, was a Certificate of Good Standing from the Commerce and Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). The commission says it could not keep processing Star Broadcasting’s license applications without it.
At a meeting on Wednesday, October 7, the commissioners noted that Star Broadcasting only submitted the required items to CIPO on October 1 and October 5. That was after the NTRC’s last deadline of September 21, and it also missed the company’s own requested extension date of October 5.
The NTRC’s letter lays out the timeline it relied on:
- February 14, 2025: The NTRC reminded the company to file renewal applications by April 14, 2025, a year ahead of expiry.
- November 13, 2025: Star Broadcasting submitted its relicensing applications, seven months after that date.
- April 14, 2026: The FM license and frequency authorization expired.
- May 6, 2026: The company said documents would go to CIPO by May 15 and expected processing to finish by the end of May.
- July 21, 2026: The company said documents would go to CIPO by July 24, followed by an application for restoration and then the request for the certificate.
- September 10, 2026: The company asked for an extension to October 5.
- October 6, 2026: The company’s legal representative, G. Grahame Bollers, wrote again, with no new date given.
By the October 7 meeting, the letter says, five months and 23 days had passed since the license expired, with the certificate still outstanding.
Why Star FM stays on the air
Star’s position, as Ferdinand put it, rests on two claims. The first is legal: that the NTRC had no power under the Telecommunications Act to issue the order. Ferdinand did not say which part of the Act the station believes the commission breached, and VPN has not seen a legal opinion setting out the argument.
The NTRC’s own letter is worded with care on this point. It does not claim to grant or refuse the license itself. It says the authorization must come from the Minister. Whether the commission can order a station off the air on its own authority, while that decision is pending, is the question at the center of the dispute.
The second claim is factual: that Star now holds a Certificate of Good Standing from CIPO. The St Vincent Times reported the same on Friday. VPN has not seen the certificate, and it is not clear whether it has been sent to the NTRC, or on what date it was issued.
What the record shows about Star FM’s side
On the NTRC’s account, the delay began with Star Broadcasting. The company was warned more than a year in advance, filed its renewal seven months past the date it was given, and then set and missed at least two of its own deadlines for the CIPO paperwork. The references to “restoration” in the company’s July letter suggest the problem involved its standing on the companies register, not the radio license itself.
Even if the certificate is now in hand, it is one step in the process. The license itself expired on April 14 and has not been renewed. For now, Star FM stays on the air on both frequencies without one.
The questions the NTRC has not answered
Star’s paperwork problems are real, and they are its own. But whether or not Star FM stays on the air, the timing and form of the order raise fair questions for the regulator, whichever party’s station is involved:
- Why now? The NTRC let the station broadcast for nearly six months after its license expired, then ordered it off the air immediately, days after the CIPO filings were finally made. The letter does not mention any earlier order to stop.
- Is enforcement consistent? Has the NTRC ordered any other broadcaster off the air for a lapsed license or missing paperwork? The commission’s letter does not say.
- Who decides, and how fast? The letter places the final decision on a new license with the Minister responsible for Telecommunications, a member of the governing party. There is no timeline for that decision.
When a government regulator moves to take the opposition party’s radio station off the air, the burden is on the regulator to show that the same rules apply to everyone, and that the station will be restored promptly once it complies. That is the same standard Vincypowa News applies to both parties, whoever holds office.
What’s next for Star FM
The NTRC has not said what it will do if Star keeps broadcasting. Vincypowa News emailed the commission on Saturday with questions about Star’s continued transmission, its legal basis for the order, whether it has received the Certificate of Good Standing, and how quickly the Minister will decide on a new license. The NTRC did not respond by publication time. Neither the commission nor the government has issued a public statement on the order that VPN has seen, and Star has not said whether it will challenge the order in court.
Vincypowa News will update this story as the NTRC, the Ministry and Star Broadcasting respond.
Sources: NTRC letter Ref. RAB/11 dated October 8, 2026; statement from ULP Communications Director Augustine Ferdinand to Vincypowa News, October 10, 2026; St Vincent Times; Star FM; Searchlight, February 2008.
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