By IANS,
New Delhi : The government will conduct the third phase of auction for FM radio licences by the end of this year, paving the way for setting up of 839 new radio stations in nearly 300 towns and cities across the country, a top official said Thursday.
The government hopes to mop up around Rs.1,500 crore in revenue from the auction.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of CASBAA India Forum 2013 here, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Uday Kumar Varma said an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) has cleared the proposal and a guideline for the auction will be issued soon.
“We should be able to complete the auction of all the 839 radio stations this year,” Varma said.
The empowered group of ministers headed by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram at a meeting held Wednesday had cleared the information and broadcasting ministry’s proposal for the auction.
In the national budget for 2013-14 presented at the end of last month, the finance minister has announced that there will be a FM radio station in all the cities having population of over one lakh.