Govt eyeing Rs 1,531 cr revenue from FM channels auction

The government is eyeing a revenue of over Rs 1,531 crore from the auction of new radio channels as a part of the FM Phase III expansion.
"Government is likely to receive total revenue of about Rs 1531.92 crore from the auction of new channels based on the reserve price," Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Tewari also said the government had approved the policy guidelines on expansion of FM Radio broadcasting services through private agencies (Phase III).
The government has also cleared the proposal of the ministry of Information and Broadcasting for conducting ascending e-auction for award of licences of FM channels.

Under the policy, a total of 839 channels in 294 cities will be made available for auction, he said.
In response to another question, Tewari said a total of 107 proposals or requests had been received for the opening of AIR FM Radio stations at 97 places during the last three years.