Broadcasting sector regulator TRAI today came out with recommendations for setting the reserve price for Phase III auction of FM Radio channels in 253 new cities and eleven other cities in J&K and North Eastern states.
TRAI, in a statement, said the valuation of 253 new cities has been worked out as a simple mean of three valuation approaches based on variables like population of the city, per capita gross state domestic product, listenership of FM Radio and per capita gross revenue earned by existing FM Radio operators.
It has recommended that the RP for FM Radio channels in a new city to be set at 0.8 times the valuation of FM Radio channels in that city.
It also recommended that the Reserve Prices in 11 border cities in the 'Others' category in Phase-III should be Rs 5 lakh per channel.
The ministry of Information and Broadcasting had earlier sent a reference to TRAI seeking its recommendations on reserve prices for auctions as per Phase III guidelines.
Along with its recommendations TRAI also annexed a list of suggested reserve price for the 253 new cities.
For instance, the Reserve Price for a city like Adilabad in Telangana, has been put at Rs 1.1 crore while Reserve Price for Alawar in Rajasthan has been suggested at Rs 2.14 crore.
Dhanbad in Jharkhand has a recommended Reserve Price of Rs 5.8 crore while the same for Ludhiana is Rs 9.89 crore.
TRAI said it had finalised its recommendations having a consultation process with stakeholders. The Phase-III expansion of FM Radio broadcasting services seeks to pave the way for introduction of private FM Radio channels in 253 new cities each with a population of more than 1 lakh as per Census 2011.
Further, 11 other cities with a population less than 1 lakh in the border areas of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and the North East (NE) region are also proposed to be included in the Phase-III expansion. In total 831 FM Radio channels would be put up for auction in 264 new cities (253 having population more than 1 lakh and 11 in border areas).
