Govt plans to auction 808 radio channels in 284 cities

The government is working to expand the reach of radio with the auction for 808 channels in 284 cities, Anurag Thakur, Minister of Information and Broadcasting has said.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of Community Radio Sammelan. Thakur shared the roadmap ahead for community radio stations in India. While addressing the session, he mentioned how the government is all set to create a better future for community radio stations in India. 

Discussing the count of community radio stations, Thakur mentioned that 450 Community Radio Stations are actively working across the country and 120 stations have been added in the last two years. 

“The government has made earnest efforts to reduce the time taken to establish such community radio stations. Where earlier acquiring a license was a time-consuming and tedious process taking around four years and involving thirteen processes, today this has been reduced to eight processes and a licence can be acquired within six months. The Ministry is making all efforts to reduce this time further. The application process is now online on Broadcast Seva Portal and is connected to Saral Sanchar Portal,” Thakur said. 

Commenting on the expansion of the reach of radio in India, Thakur said, “While today 80% of the geographical area of the country and over 90 per cent of the population is covered by Radio, the government is working to expand this reach further and auction of 808 channels in 284 cities under the 3rd batch of e-auction is a big step in that direction.

Thakur also conferred the National Community Radio Awards during the inaugural session of the two-day Regional Community Radio Sammelan (North).