MUMBAI: The Information of memorandum available on the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B Ministry) website provides details of the number of available frequencies and the reserve prices. The reserve price of Mumbai is the highest at a little over 35 crore, while Aizwal is the lowest at 12 lakh.
Applicants can bid for only one frequency in metros like Delhi (107.2) and Chennai (104). Amongst the ‘A+’ categories, Mumbai has two frequencies- 91.9 and 106.4, available.
In ‘A’ categories, there are 19 frequencies available for auctions across cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Pune and Surat. In Bangalore, frequency 104.8 is available for auctions and the reserve price for the same is little more than Rs 21 crore, which is the highest in the ‘A’ category. In Surat, there are two frequencies available for auctions-91.9 and 104 and the reserve price for both is Rs 3, 60, 00,000 each. In Hyderabad, there are four frequencies up for grabs- 91.9, 94.3, 104 and 104.8, each at Rs 18 crore. The reserve price of Pune and Lucknow is the same (Rs 14, 00, 55, 000) and available frequencies in the cities are 91.9 and 92.7 in Pune, and 104, 104.8 and 106.4 in Lucknow.
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There are a total of 17 frequencies for auction ranging over 11 cities in the ‘B’ category. Three frequencies in Patna are under auction and the reserve price is little more than Rs 5 crore. For Jamshedpur, the reserve price (Rs 1, 21, 50, 990) is the lowest in the category. Allahabad, Asansol, Agra and Viyaywada will have two channels, each, that will be auctioned.
The reserve price of ‘C’ category city- Chandigarh is more than 15 crore, which is higher than Category ‘A+’ city- Chennai. In the ‘C’ category, there are 40 cities and 85 frequencies available in the Phase III auction. The lowest reserve price in the category is Muzzaffarpur which is Rs 15, 10,000. Jammu and Kashmir will have a total of six channels for auctions- three in each, Jammu and Srinagar.
In the ‘D’ category, there are a total of ten frequencies for auctions in six cities. The reserve prices for the cities are between 12, 07,000 to 90, 00, 000.
Out of the 69 cities, 13 cities are in Maharashtra, 5 in Tamil Nadu, 3 in Gujarat, 4 in Karnataka, 6 in Rajasthan, 9 in Uttar Pradesh, 2 each in Punjab, West Bengal, Kerala, Bihar, and the newly formed state of Telegana. Assam and Meghalaya, amongst others, each have one city.
Frequencies for cities like Guwahati and Siliguri have not been confirmed in the memorandum yet. It has also been stated that the WPC has to still confirm the frequencies for the two cities, along with 106.4 MHz in Shillong.
