I&B plans e-auction of FM Phase III 1st batch radio channels

The Information and Broadcasting ministry is planning to begin e-auction of the first batch of FM Phase III Radio channels from July 27, and mock auctions were held today to acquaint participating companies with the rules and methodology.
20 of the 21 companies, whose applications as pre- qualified bidders were accepted by the ministry, participated in the mock auctions today, officials said.
"The mock auctions exercise went off smoothly. Barring one company which could not participate, 20 other bidders participated," a source told PTI. The ministry will hold similar mock-acutions tomorrow as well, officials said.
The ministry is planning that the actual e-auction shall begin from July 27 as that is the tentative timeline for e-auction of the first batch of Phase III, officials added. The ministry will hold ascending e-auction for first batch of FM Phase-III Radio Channels which comprises of 135 channels in 69 existing cities of Phase II.

As per the Notice Inviting Applications issued by the I&B ministry, the FM Channels available for award in this process will be allocated by Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) e-auction methodology.
Awarding of FM Channels will be done through a two-stage process with the first stage being channel allocation Stage and the second being frequency allocation Stage.

While the ministry is going ahead with the process, the Delhi High Court today sought its response on a plea by Digital Radio Broadcasting Ltd, which runs Red FM, against the government's decision denying it permission to participate in the third phase of FM auction.

A High Court bench also permitted Red FM, a company associated with Kalanithi Maran-promoted SUN TV, to participate in the mock auction scheduled for today.
The court issued notices to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and sought its reply by July 24 when the bench will hear the matter.