Trai seeks comments on the consultation paper on ‘Issues related to FM Radio broadcasting’

Mumbai : The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has released a consultation paper on “Issues related to FM Radio broadcasting”.

 The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has requested recommendations from the Authority under Section 1 1(1)(a) of the TRAI Act, 1997, on the following issues in its references dated 11 May , 2022:

•     Remove the linkage to Non-Refundable One Time Entry Fee (NOTEF) in the formula for annual fee as prescribed in the FM Ph-Ill Policy Guidelines dated 25 July 2011.
•     Extend the existing FM license period of 15 years by 3 years.

In order to discuss various issues related to FM Radio broadcasting, the Authority held a meeting with representatives of AROI on 5 August 2022.

Representatives of AROI, inter-alia, raised the following issues for consideration of the Authority:

•     Permitting private FM Radio channels to broadcast independent news bulletins
•     Availability of FM Radio Receivers in Mobile Handsets

Accordingly, this consultation paper has been prepared to seek the comments/views of the stakeholders on the issues related to FM Radio broadcasting.

The stakeholders can submit written comments on the consultation paper by 9 March 2023. Counter comments are submitted by 23 March 2023