The government, as a part of FM Phase III expansion is planning to auction new radio channels on reserve price, which could fetch the Center a revenue of around Rs 1531 crore. The estimate of revenue is based on the reserve price and the government will conduct the auction by ascending e-auction for award of licences.
Back in August 2012, cabinet had approved the policy guidelines on Phase III expansion of FM radio broadcasting services. The government, then in November, cleared the proposal of the ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B ministry) for conducting ascending e-auction followed by the department of telecommunications for the auction of 3G spectrum for award of licence to FM channels.
Under the policy, a total of 839 channels in 294 cities will be made available for auction. The reserve price for radio channels in FM Phase III expansion would be decided on the basis of amount bid in Phase II auction. The reserve price for new channels in existing FM Phase II cities would be the highest bid price received for that city in Phase II, while, in cities which are being taken up afresh, the reserve price would be the highest bid price received during FM Phase II for that category of cities in that region.
Meanwhile, a total of 107 proposals or requests have been received by I&B Ministry for the opening of AIR FM Radio stations at 97 places during the last three years.
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