Dear All, The recent hike in spectrum fee for community radios has drawn vociferous protests from the civil society <http://blog.uccommedia.in/?p=180>. A recent notification from Ministry of Communications and IT (MoCIT) announced a five-fold hike in the spectrum fee for Community Radio broadcasters in the country. According to the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing of the Ministry, the revised royalty and licence fee for the allocation and usage of spectrum has now shot up to *Rs. 91,000*, from *Rs.19,100*.
Community Radio organisations protesting because: 1. Imposing a spectrum fee itself is against TRAI’s recommendations<http://blog.uccommedia.in/?p=163> . 2. It’s a blow to the voice of the poor<http://blog.uccommedia.in/?p=174> . 3. It’s a violation of free speech <http://blog.uccommedia.in/?p=165>. 4. An unaffordable threshold of regulations frustrates the right to communicate <http://blog.uccommedia.in/?p=159>, and because 5. The government thinks it can charge both telecom & media organisations on the one hand & community radios on the other similar fees. <http://blog.uccommedia.in/?p=168> *CLICK HERE & VOICE YOUR OPINION!<http://blog.vasukibelavadi.com/should-community-radios-pay-the-hiked-spectrum-fee/> * Thanks and warm regards vasuki belavadi -- *VASUKI BELAVADI* *Associate Professor & Faculty Fellow, Unesco Chair on Community Media<http://snscomm.uohyd.ernet.in/uccommedia/> , Department of Communication <http://snscomm.uohyd.ernet.in/comm/>, University of Hyderabad <http://www.uohyd.ac.in/>, Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500046, Andhra Pradesh, India Phone (Off): +91 40 23135505, Email: mai...@vasukibelavadi.com / **Skype: vbelavadi, Linkedin: vasuki belavadi Extensions <http://blog.vasukibelavadi.com>/ Website<http://www.vasukibelavadi.com> / Bol Hyderabad 90.4 fm <http://snscomm.uohyd.ernet.in/bolhyd/>*
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