It seems as if MoIB is talking to ToI. A very convoluted story that starts of
with saying CR is threatened and then ends with saying that DoT is considering
waiving off spectrum fees.
Arti
Arti Jaiman
Station Director : Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Samudayik Radio Station 107.8 MHz FM
email: a...@trfindia.org
website: www.trfindia.org
Gurgaon Ki Awaaz is the first and only civil-society-led community radio
station in the National Capital Region of Delhi. Since 2009, we have been
broadcasting 22X7, in Hindi and Haryanvi, with a team of community reporters
who generate community content with community participation.
--- On Sat, 22/9/12, sajan venniyoor <venniy...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: sajan venniyoor <venniy...@gmail.com>
Subject: [cr-india] "Community radio under threat as govt mulls auctioning
spectrum" - ToI
To: "CR India" <cr-india@sarai.net>
Date: Saturday, 22 September, 2012, 8:52 AM
The Times of India reported yesterday that "Community radio may get a new lease
of life" as the telecom ministry is likely to waive the spectrum fee for CR
stations. ToI reports today, "in what could prove to be a death-blow for the
fledgling community radio industry, the telecom ministry is examining whether
spectrum for them should be auctioned."
Evidently, the Times is as clueless as the rest of us regarding the Telecom
Ministry's intentions.
I wish Mr. Sibal luck in auctioning CR spectrum in those parts of India where
we are most eager to encourage community radio, like the North East, Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh, Orissa, J&K, our island territories and rural India in general,
especially those remote areas where commercial FM networks do themselves
serious injury in their frantic attempts to buy radio spectrum.
Sajan
Community radio under threat as govt mulls auctioning spectrum
Himanshi Dhawan, TNN | Sep 22, 2012
NEW DELHI: In what could prove to be the deathblow for the fledgling community
radioindustry, the telecom ministry is examining whether spectrum for them
should be auctioned. The ministry has, in fact, stopped giving clearances for
community radio projects as a result of which 166 applications have been
pending for the past nine months. The ministry's reluctance comes following the
Supreme Court order in the 2G spectrum case.
Sources said there was concern in the government that the auction route would
effectively strangle the nascent industry that continues to struggle for stable
financial resources.
There are 140 community radio stations in the country, predominantly run by
educational institutions, small communities, NGOs and in some cases even gram
panchayats.
According to sources, the wireless planning and coordination (WPC) department
of the telecom ministry had stopped providing clearances to community radio
applications for the last nine months. A source said, "There are 166
applications pending with WPC and the I&B ministry is unable to issue any new
permission because of this." There are 267 applications pending at various
stages currently.
It is also learnt that the WPC wing had kept all matters relating to the use of
spectrum on hold after the SC decision in the 2G case. The WPC wing is learnt
to be examining whether spectrum for community radio should be auctioned.
According to the I&B ministry, community radio has played an important role and
has been instrumental in conveying the Indian government's development schemes
and providing access to media-dark areas. Several successful experiments of
mobilizing local communities for encouraging local dialects, projects and
conveying government messages have been documented in recent years. However,
the proposal to auction spectrum for community radio will effectively end the
project's progress.
However, the telecom ministry has relented and is likely to waive off spectrum
fees that had been hiked from Rs 19,000 to Rs 93,000 recently. The hike in
spectrum fee was met with protests from the community radio industry which even
met telecom minister Kapil Sibal to register their opposition. This was
followed by a letter recommending a rollback from I&B secretary U K Varma to
the telecom secretary.
Community radio may get a new lease of life
TNN | Sep 21, 2012
NEW DELHI: The telecom ministry is likely to waive off spectrum fee for
community radio stations following demands for a rollback from information and
broadcasting (I&B) ministry and community radio (CR) organizations. The
spectrum fee is a prohibitive Rs 93,000 for a year.
According to sources, the issue of the high spectrum fee was raised by I&B
ministerAmbika Soni with telecom minister Kapil Sibalon Thursday pressing the
point that the fee would have damaging repercussions on the government's
development agenda.
The telecom ministry had recently increased fee for community radio stations by
five times from Rs 19,000 to Rs 93,000, sparking protests from those running CR
projects.
I&B secretary U K Varma had written to the telecom secretary saying that the
ministry's views were not sought before the decision was taken.
"This five-fold increase in spectrum fee would have a crippling impact on the
growth of community radio stations in India as many organizations would find it
impossible to meet this huge increase in royalty charges," the letter written
to telecom secretary R Chandrashekhar had said.
The ministry has so far given 370 permissions to various NGOs, Krishi Vigyan
Kendra and recognized educational institutions. Around 132 CR stations are
operational in the country.
The high spectrum fee has been a huge discouraging factor for those CR stations
that has been struggling for finances to sustain the model. Community Radio
Association members, including MKSS's Aruna Roy, has also been demanding a
rollback of spectrum fee.
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