DOHA, QATAR – The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has announced the provision of maritime radio station licensing services for small ships in Al Khor and Al Ruwais cities, including the issuance, renewal, amendment and cancelling of the maritime radio station licenses.
Through these services, CRA aims to process the requests of a large segment of the residents of the northern cities of the country.
These services will facilitate the completion of their applications related to maritime radio station licensing for small ships without the need to visit CRA’s headquarters in Doha.
CRA will provide its services at Al Khor City office during weekdays (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday), while Tuesday will be assigned to the office in Al Ruwais City. The working hours are from 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
The maritime radio station license is part of the radio spectrum licenses issued by CRA in accordance with the applicable regulatory framework.
This license allows small ship users to install and operate maritime radio systems operating in the Very High Frequency (VHF) band for radio transceivers on ships and watercraft for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communication.
This will also help install and operate the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which is an automatic tracking system that uses transmitters on ships and is used by Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) for identification.
These systems contribute to maintaining the safety of ships’ owners and passengers in case of an emergency; the radio transceiver can be used to communicate with the General Directorate of Coasts and Borders Security, and the AIS can be used to determine the coordinates of the ship.