New Zealand places a moratorium on new AM/FM spectrum licences

New Zealand’s Radio Spectrum Management department announced in December that work is underway to renew AM/FM licences, and a moratorium on new AM/FM commercial licences and commercial licence modifications will be in place from 5 pm 20 February 2026 (previously announced as 20 January) until late 2026 to support this project. The date when the moratorium is to be lifted will be confirmed closer to the time.

The agency said that those who intend to apply for any licence modifications, or apply for new licences before the moratorium, must ensure that the processes are completed before 5 pm on 20 February 2026.

For new licence applications and also for modifications of existing licences, the completed licence application or modification must be in the Crown Spectrum Asset Manager’s work queue in the Register of Radio Frequencies (RRF) by the cut-off time.

There is very limited scope to make changes to existing commercial licences during the moratorium. It is expected that any requests would be prompted by factors beyond the control of operators and which cannot wait until the moratorium is lifted, such as unexpectedly losing access to a transmission site at short notice. If a modification is required during the moratorium period, a statutory declaration will be required. This will be available after the moratorium has started, on 20 February 2026, by request made to crownspectrum@mbie.govt.nz.

The moratorium of approximately 12 months is required to provide administrative stability for the AM/FM renewal project.

Radio Spectrum Management has opened consultation on the potential reassignment of licences in the AM and FM radio spectrum bands prior to expiry in 2031.

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