New Delhi, Aug 1 (UNI) Telecom and Broadcasting regulator TRAI on Thursday released a Consultation Paper (CP) on “Reserve Prices for auction of FM Radio channels” seeking views from stakeholders in 18 cities/towns in the states of Himanchal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir for the expansion of Private FM Radio.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has also requested TRAI to recommend the reserve price in the cities of Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), Rourkela (Odisha) and Rudrapur (Uttarakhand).
Accordingly, this Consultation Paper has been prepared to seek comments/views of the stakeholders on the determination of reserve prices for auction of FM Radio channels, under FM Phase-Ill Policy.
In the consultation paper, Trai has proposed a new category ‘E’ for the cities in which the reserve price for FM radio auction will be applicable.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has sought views on how should the reserve prices for 18 cities identified by MIB in hilly states/UTs be determined. Whether it should be kept at Rs. 5 lakh as like cities of ‘Others’ category? Or whether any other methodology to be used for determining the reserve price in these cities?
It also asked views on financial eligibility of participants in the auctions and also what should annual fee payable by the successful candidates.
The stakeholders can submit their comments on the consultation paper by email. Written comments on the consultation paper are due by August 29.
TRAI in its earlier Recommendations on Issues related to FM Radio Broadcasting dated 5th September 2023 had noted that linking of license fee to Non-Refundable One Time Entry Fee (NOTEF) has resulted in significantly higher license fee in some cities and accordingly recommended delinking of the two.
“The annual license fee of a FM radio channel should be de-linked from Non-Refundable One Time Entry Fee (NOTEF). The license fee should be calculated as 4% of the Gross Revenue (GR) of the FM radio channel during the respective financial year. GST should be excluded from Gross Revenue (GR),” the consultation paper said.
The recommendations dated 05.09.2023 are pending with MIB.
Keeping in mind the challenging hilly terrains and sparse populations of the cities categorised in proposed category ‘E’, stakeholders are requested to provide their comments on the annual fee to be applicable to the category ‘E’ cities.
In all the TRAI has raised 6 questions or issues related to FM Radio auction.
