Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday recommended that FM radio players that migrate from Phase II to Phase III of the rolling out of channels should be allowed to operate for fifteen years.

The authority said this as part of its recommendations on Migration of FM Radio players from Phase II to Phase III.

In Phase III, an additional 839 channels across 294 cities will be up for auction and all existing FM Radio players operational under Phase II regime will be permitted to migrate to Phase III regime after payment of a migration fee.

Channel spacing The authority has also reiterated that the minimum channel spacing of 400 Khz should be implemented as it will increase the number of FM channels in each city for auction.

In addition, it has said that the cut-off date for the migration needs to be decided by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, after the completion of auction process of Phase III of FM Radio. Though, it added that the migration cut off date should not be later than March 31, 2015.

The authority has also recommended the method for the calculation of the migration fee and has classified the cities into three groups on the basis of the number of FM channels available in each city for the Phase III auction.

Migration fee It has recommended that the migration fee in these cities be calculated, on the basis of the average bids received in Phase II or the highest bid received in the city among other factors. “The methodology adopted for determining the reserve price for fresh cities in Phase III should be reconsidered as the current methodology might jeopardise the auction,” the regulator added in its recommendations.

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