Wellington, Nov 25 NZPA - A New Zealand company has defended its report that prompted Fiji's interim military government to cancel all existing broadcast licences in the country.

The company, Streamcom, compiled a report on the broadcasting spectrum in Fiji and found it was disorganised and needed a clean-up of frequencies.

The Fiji government was reported to suspect underhand dealings in spectrum allocation during earlier administrations and to be seeking more efficient use of its transmission frequencies.

The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBCL) wants to get into TV.

Fiji's Mai TV has been awarded the rights to broadcast the 2010 Soccer World Cup but its UHF signal can only reach some urban areas.

Mai TV chief executive Richard Broadbridge has said it sought a VHF licence nearly two years ago but had had to use UHF even though one broadcaster had more VHF channels than it needed.

On Saturday Attorney-General and Communications Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was given new powers, which he used to strip the licences of broadcasters.

He said there was nothing sinister about the move and television and radio stations in Fiji were given temporary licences on Saturday.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said new spectrum allocations would follow a tender process that would "minimise corruption".

The head of Streamcom, Simon Jackson, told the ABC he felt Fiji's interim government has done the right thing.

"What we think is happening is that the Fijian government is currently trying to address years of neglect and mismanagement and actually corruption.

"We found evidence of that and the way that radio spectrum had been managed."

But Foreign Minister Murray McCully's spokesman in Wellington earlier this week described it as another backwards step for Fiji.

"It is a disappointing and retrograde move by the regime to shut down any broadcaster that does not toe the party line," the spokesman said.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum is regarded as the Fiji government's second most powerful figure after military commander Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama. Anyone broadcasting in contravention to the minister's directions could be jailed for five years, according to The Australian newspaper

Mr McCully's office said Fiji was on the agenda at the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers' Meeting now under way in Trinidad and Tobago .

Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth after it refused to commit to holding a general election by 2010.