The government on Tuesday said it expects to mop up Rs 1,500 crore from the auction of licenses under the
Radio FM Phase-III expansion.
The
FM Phase-III policy extends FM radio services to about 227 new cities, in addition to the present 86 cities with a total of 839 new FM radio channels.
"The auction will be conducted in phases. We will complete first phase before March 2013. Total revenue estimated from the three phases is Rs 1,500 crore," Information and Broadcasting Secretary Uday Kumar Verma said.
"We have provided (estimates) for first phase, which is Rs 500 crore for this fiscal," Verma added.
He said that total spectrum available for FM radio auction is 837 Mhz and one-third of it will be auctioned first.
"The dates for other two phases will be decided based on the response of first auction," Verma said.
The FM Phase-III policy will result in coverage of all cities with a population of one lakh and above through private FM channels.
The Phase I and Phase II policies had resulted in a total revenue accrual of about Rs 1,733 crore up to May 31, 2011 by way of one time entry fee, migration fee and annual fee among others.
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