Radiocom Radio Amateur Guidelines

1. Overview

Article 25 of The Radio Regulations states that: “Administrations shall take such measures as they judge necessary to verify the operational and technical qualifications of any person wishing to operate the apparatus of an amateur station.”

All prospective radio amateurs are therefore required to demonstrate a suitable level of competence and proficiency as a pre-requisite to holding a radio amateur licence issued by the ICT Authority to operate on the territories of the Republic of Mauritius. Licences may be issued to individual radio amateurs or to radio amateur expeditions.

A licence is required for each class of amateur station.

It is the responsibility of the radio amateur to ensure that his/her licence details with the ICTA remain valid and updated.

A licence does not confer any right of ownership of the frequency spectrum. It allows for the possession and use of the radio amateur station in accordance with the conditions of the Radio Amateur Licence.

A Radio Amateur Licence shall not be granted to a person below the age of 16 years. Payment of licence fees applicable, upon grant of a licence to such a person, shall be made by his/her responsible party.

A Radio Amateur Licence may be cancelled at the written request of the licensee. Such cancellation shall be without entitlement to any refund of licence fees.

The ICTA may suspend or revoke a Radio Amateur Licence where there is serious or repeated non-compliance by the licensee with the conditions of the licence. Again, there shall be no entitlement to any refund of licence fees in the event of any such action.

The applicant is advised not to proceed with the purchase of any equipment and/or installation of the station until his/her application for a licence has been approved. All radio amateur equipment to be used in a licensed amateur station must be type approved by ICTA. Please refer to the type approval guidelines on our website (www.icta.mu) for more information.

A copy of the terms and conditions of the different licence types is also available on the website of the ICTA.

3. Licence Types

There are three types of radio amateur licences defined under the ICT Act 2001 (as amended). These are the Radio Amateur Class A, Radio Amateur Class B and the Radio Amateur Visitor’s Licences.

The Radio Amateur Class A (RA23) Licence permits the Licensee to operate on all approved radio amateur bands allocated to the Amateur Service.

The Radio Amateur Class B (RA24) Licence permits the Licensee to operate essentially on the VHF/UHF band allocated to the Amateur Service.

The Radio Amateur Visitor’s Licence (RA25) is a temporary licence issued to visiting radio amateurs based on their equivalent competencies to operate a radio amateur station in the territories of the Republic of Mauritius.

Details pertaining to duration of licence, applicable licence fees and frequency of operation bands are given in the template licence document:-

Any radio amateur wishing to obtain a licence to operate a radio amateur station in the Republic of Mauritius is required to apply for the appropriate licence on the prescribed application form. Additional information to be submitted is as follows:

Visiting radio amateurs who wish to operate a radio amateur station during their stay in Mauritius and its territories are invited to submit their application for licence at least three (3) months before their intended period of stay. Given the need for the ICTA to seek a security clearance from relevant authorities, it would enable a timely processing and determination of any application prior to their arrival.

Upon successful grant of a radio amateur licence, the radio amateur or radio amateur expedition will be issued with a Call Sign. A Call sign is a unique identifier for a radio transmitting station. The call sign prefix allocated to the Republic of Mauritius by the International Telecommunication Union is 3B. Kindly find hereunder the format for allocation of call signs to radio amateurs in the Republic of Mauritius:-

Call signs are issued on a first come, first served basis. Requests for special call signs will be given due consideration for special events such as expeditions only.

Visiting radio amateurs wishing to have a local call sign may request same when they can demonstrate that they will be staying for periods longer than 6 months or upon showing evidence of frequent, long-duration visits to the Republic of Mauritius. Such a request will be given due consideration.

Unauthorized use of call signs and operation without a licence issued by the ICT Authority is an offence punishable under the law.

Call signs not in use for a period of more than 10 years will automatically be withdrawn for eventual reuse. Special Call Signs allocated for expeditions and special events may be reused by the ICTA after a period of 5 years.

Please note that the Mauritius Amateur Radio Society (MARS) is an association regrouping the local radio amateurs. The ICT Authority signed a memorandum of Understanding with MARS regarding the recognition by the ICT Authority of the certificate of competency issued by MARS for the grant of a radio amateur (Class B) licence to successful candidates.

You may wish to contact MARS for further information https://3b8mars.org/.

i Schedule Of Frequency Bands For Radio Amateur Class A and B 

ii Application form for Radio Amateur Class A (RA23)

iii Application form for Radio Amateur Class B (RA24)

iv Application for Radio Amateur Visitor’s Licence (RA25)