Radio auction: 94 channels become provisional winners

New Delhi: At the close of the 21st day of bidding for the Phase III of FM Radio, 94 channels in 56 cities became provisional winners with cumulative provisional winning price of about Rs 1,134 crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 459 crore.

Thus, the summation of provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the corresponding 94 channels by Rs 675.22 crore or 147.1 per cent, the Information and Broadcasting ministry said in a statement today.

Overall, cumulative provisional winning price exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch i.E. Rs 550.18 crore by Rs 583.90 crore or 106.1 per cent.

So far, 17 cities have got provisional winning price for their channels more than 100 per cent above their respective reserve prices, the ministry said.

Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Nasik, Patna, Pune, Rourkela and Varanasi got provisional winning bidders at prices more than double the respective reserve prices, it added.

“With the provisional winning price more than nine times the reserve price, single channel in Bhubaneshwar has undergone the most competitive bidding increment-wise. Price Increment Algorithm for the e-Auction is based on the increment logic used by Department of Telecommunications in its auctions,” the ministry said.

As per this logic, there should be no increment for negative excess demand, some increment for zero excess demand and a fixed increment above a certain excess demand, it added.

Some increment for zero excess demand means that when demand is equal to supply, seller has right to increase price to see whether purchasers are there at increased price, the statement said.

E-Auction of the first batch of Private FM Radio Phase III Channels re-commenced today and four rounds of bidding took place and till now, 84 rounds of bidding are over.

The Auction for the first batch comprising 135 FM Channels in 69 existing cities of Phase II began on July 27.