An electrical circuit fault has forced the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation to shut down its transmissions.

According to the management, the wires aligned to the AC in the transmitter room developed sparks prompting them to take both the radio and television off air on Tuesday.

The television services are, however, available for viewers with satellite receivers.

“You know -with electricity when it happens like that…the engineers decided to put it off…that is why we are not on-air, but you can access to it fully through satellite,” Suzan Alphonse, Acting Managing Director, confirmed.

She stated that they are still working to restore normal transmissions on both television and radio.

South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation runs the national television, the only functioning TV in the country. South Sudanese often rely on it for government-oriented news, especially for decrees from the President and other state functions.

Both the SSBC radio and television operates on Very High Frequency [VHF] for its local transmissions. It is not clear when it will be back on air.

In 2016, the government-run television went off because of lack of funds to pay the Arabsat satellite services.

SSBC is by law a public broadcaster, funded by the government.

The Chinese government is currently constructing a state-of-the art studios and a broadcast tower at the SSBC premises.

The $15 million [estimates] project is expected to “improve the quality of SSBC’s services to the public”