Until 1973, the national audio-visual coverage was almost non-existent due to the problem of the propagation mode used by the shortwave radio broadcasting transmitters were decametric and hectometric.
In fact, the shortwave signals were more picked up abroad than inside the national territory; therefore, there was no guarantee on the quality of reception of the signals due to the fading of the waves in space; this is due to the mode of propagation which uses the reflection of the waves by the layers of ionosphere and troposphere whose state influences the density of ions in these layers.
On the television side, there was a lack of infrastructure capable of transporting and broadcasting signals within the country; only Kinshasa and Lubumbashi produced and broadcast locally.
Moreover, taking into account the failure of the telephone transmission provided at the time by the OCPT (SCPT) on the microwave axes (Axis 1: Kinshasa-Lubumbashi), the project of the television and the radio by satellite was widened to the telephony part and generated the political will to be able to decide that all the political actions are followed on the extent of the national territory and of very good quality. Thus, the late President MOBUTU negotiated with the French President, Mr. Giscard D'ESTAIN, and France responded by proposing a new system of satellite telecommunication through a consulting office Yves HOUSSIN (BYH); this project was placed under the authority of the Ministry of National Orientation of the Republic of Zaire.
This led in 1976 to the signature of an agreement between the Department of National Orientation and the French Consortium led by THOMSON-CSF, supplier of the equipment. Also at the beginning, an expert of the OCPT and that of the RTNC were designated to supervise the project with a representative of the French cooperation under the label of the technical office of liaison BTL, in acronym.
November 11, 1978
The Network was created by interdepartmental decree n° 04/don/119/78. At the beginning, there were 16 Earth Stations of standard B, scattered in the country and conceived initially for the broadcasting of the television to the hinterland. This system had made possible the transmission of the telephone circuits whose financial profitability was difficult to consider because it was still a project. Thus the studies of integration of two tendencies (telephony and television) were carried out.
November 24, 1978
The Earth Station of N'sele is inaugurated as well as the first space link between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi under the high patronage of the late President of the Republic, MOBUTU.
October 16, 2002
The role of Public Operator of reference is attributed to RENATELSAT, under the terms of the framework law n° 013/2002 of October 16, 2002 on telecommunications in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
