The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its recommendations on the reserve prices for auction of FM radio channels.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had sought TRAI’s recommendations for 18 Category ‘E’ cities in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, along with Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), Rourkela (Odisha) and Rudrapur (Uttarakhand), as per media reports. TRAI has completed a consultation process that included stakeholder comments, counter-comments, and an open house discussion held in October 2024.
TRAI has finalised reserve prices of Rs 0.83 crore for Bilaspur, Rs 1.20 crore for Rourkela, and Rs 0.97 crore for Rudrapur. For Category ‘E’ cities, it has set a reserve price of Rs 3.75 lakh and prescribed a minimum net worth requirement of Rs 30 lakh.
The regulator has recommended that annual authorisation fees for Category ‘E’ cities should be set at 2% of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) for the first three years, and 4% thereafter. Private FM operators have also been permitted to broadcast news and current affairs content up to 10 minutes per clock hour, provided they adhere to the government’s programme code.
Further, TRAI has suggested that Prasar Bharati should share land, tower, and transmission infrastructure with private broadcasters at concessional rentals, while successful bidders should be given flexible payment options similar to telecom spectrum auctions.
The Authority has also proposed the removal of mandatory colocation for transmission infrastructure, allowing voluntary sharing with broadcasting, telecom, and infrastructure providers.
According to TRAI’s recommendations:
● Private FM Radio Operators should be allowed to broadcast news and current affairs programs, limited to 10 minutes in each clock hour.”
● The annual license fee of a FM radio channel should be delinked from Non-Refundable One Time Entry Fee (NOTEF) for all licensees including existing licensees.
Prasar Bharati should share its land and tower infrastructure (LTI) as well as common transmission infrastructure (CTI) with private broadcasters at concessional rental rates while taking full recovery of operational expenses.
