After a slow start, e- auction of the First Batch of Private FM Radio Phase III Channels re-commenced on Tuesday with four rounds of bidding. In the past 24 hours, 88 rounds of bidding have taken place.
At the close of the 22nd day of bidding, 94 channels in 56 cities emerged provisional winners with cumulative provisional price of about Rs1,136.6 cr against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs459 crore.
The cities of Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur, Jodhpur, amongst other cities got provisional winning bidders at prices more than double the respective reserve prices, informed the Ministry sources. Bhubaneswar witnessed the most competitive bidding,
However, 13 smaller cities and towns like Mysore, Mangalore, Pondicherry, Trichy and Vijayawada are yet to find any takers.
The sources in the Ministry expressed satisfaction that almost all the big operators, as well as new regional players are participating in the auctions. The bidding has already exceeded the Government's expectations.
FM radio stations that started off in the late 1990s, have since then revolutionised the face of radio broadcasting in the country. Phase -1 covered just about 21 private FM channels in 12 cities has grown phenomenally since then. The second phase was introduced in 2005, with 243 FM channels in 86 cities. According to figures FM radio in India reaches 40 million listeners in four metro cities and 350 million in 91 smaller cities and towns.