Radio auction: 96 channels become provisional winners

At the close of the 27th day of bidding for the e-auctions of the private radio FM Phase III expansion, 96 channels in 56 cities became provisional winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price of about Rs 1,155 crore. An official statement released here said that the aggregate reserve price of these channels was about Rs 459.5 crore. Thereby the summation of provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the corresponding 96 channels by Rs 695.5 crore or 151.3 percent, the statement released by the I&B ministry said.

Overall, cumulative provisional winning price exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch i.e. Rs 550.18 crore by Rs 604.8 crore or 109.9 percent, the ministry said. E-Auction of the first batch of private FM radio Phase III channels re-commenced today and during the day, four rounds of bidding took place.

Till now, 108 rounds of bidding are over. The auction for the first batch comprising 135 FM Channels in 69 existing cities of Phase II had began on 27th July. The channel allocation stage will continue till the bids are received for any of the 135 channels.