New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its recommendations on “Reserve Prices for auction of FM Radio channels” following a request from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB). The recommendations focus on expansion of Private FM Radio in specified cities/towns across Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.
The MIB had, through references dated 21 December 2023 and clarifications in March & April 2024, asked TRAI to suggest reserve prices for FM channels in 18 category ‘E’ cities/towns, plus Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), Rourkela (Odisha), and Rudrapur (Uttarakhand). TRAI published a consultation paper on 1 August 2024, gathered comments and counter-comments from stakeholders, and held an Open House Discussion on 10 October 2024.
After considering all inputs, TRAI’s recommendations include:
- Reserve price in Bilaspur: ₹0.83 crore
- Rourkela: ₹1.20 crore
- Rudrapur: ₹0.97 crore
- Category ‘E’ cities: ₹3.75 lakh
Financial criteria: minimum net worth of Rs. 30 lakh for Category ‘E’ cities; for other categories, existing net worth requirements (per FM Phase-III policy, 2011) remain unchanged.
Other terms include: definition of Gross Revenue (including revenue from streaming if applicable), calculation of Adjusted Gross Revenue (discounting GST), annual fee structure (2% AGR for first three years in Category ‘E’, rising to 4%), max 3 private channels in Category ‘E’ cities, provisions for news/current affairs content (up to 10 minutes per hour), delinking of annual license fee from non-refundable one-time entry fee (NOTEF), infrastructure sharing (Prasar Bharati land, towers, etc.), removal of mandatory colocation clause, and more.
Source Attribution
Inputs from PIB release
