Auction charges eased for private FM radio in uncovered new cities
In its latest order, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has said that the permission holder in the uncovered new cities including the North East, union territories, and island territories will be charged a 2% annual fee of its gross revenue.
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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, on September 10, introduced amendments to the Private FM Radio Phase-III policy guidelines. The key updates include new reserve prices- based on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendations for the annual fee structures.
It is to be noted that recently, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for the conduct of the third batch of ascending e-auctions for 730 channels in 234 new cities with an estimated reserve price of Rs 784.87 crore under the Private FM Radio Phase-III Policy.
According to the latest amendments, the reserve price for FM channels in uncovered new cities will be 2% of the gross revenue for the private FM stations, excluding GST.
The order said, "The Permission holder in the uncovered new cities in the States of North East i.e., Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura; Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir; and island territories (i.e, Andaman and Nicobar islands and Lakshadweep) under Batch-III FM Phase-III auction will be required to pay an Annual Fee to the Government of India charged @ 2% of Gross Revenue excluding Goods and Service tax for each year for an initial period of three years from the date from which the annual license fee becomes payable and the permission period of 15 years begins. Other Clauses of these policy guidelines for such permission holders shall be read accordingly.”
For the other uncovered new cities, under the Batch-III FM Phase-III auction, the private players will be levied 4% of the gross revenue, excluding the GST.
This also follows the radio stakeholders' consultation meeting with Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Electronics & Information Technology, in July, which sought GST reduction.
