E-Auction of First Batch of Private FM Radio Phase III Channels Continues; 84 Rounds of Bidding Completed at the End of Day 21

E-Auction of the First Batch of Private FM Radio Phase III Channels re-commenced today on 24^th August 2015 at 09.30 AM and during the day, four rounds of bidding took place. Till now, 84 rounds of bidding are over. Bidding will re-commence on 25^th August, 2015 at 09.30 AM.

At the close of the 21^st day of bidding, 94 channels in 56 cities became provisional winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price of about Rs 1134 Crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 459 Crore. Thus the summation of provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the corresponding 94 channels by Rs 675.22 Crore or 147.1%. Overall, cumulative provisional winning price exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch i.e. Rs 550.18 Crore by Rs 583.90 Crore or 106.1%. 

The Auction for the first batch comprising 135 FM Channels in 69 existing cities of Phase II began on 27^th July 2015.

So far, 17 cities have got provisional winning price for their channels more than 100% above their respective reserve prices. Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Nasik, Patna, Pune, Rourkela and Varanasi got provisional winning bidders at prices more than double the respective reserve prices. With the provisional winning price more than nine times the reserve price, single channel in Bhubaneshwar has undergone the most competitive bidding increment-wise. Price Increment Algorithm for the e-Auction is based on the increment logic used by Department of Telecommunications in its auctions. As per this logic, there should be no increment for negative excess demand, some increment for zero excess demand and a fixed increment above a certain excess demand. Some increment for zero excess demand means that when demand is equal to supply, seller has right to increase price to see whether purchasers are there at increased price.

            The Auction Activity Requirement (AAR) is 100%. It was increased from 90% after 59^th Round on 14^th August, 2015. The channel allocation stage will continue till the bids are received for any of the 135 channels.

After the Channel allocation stage is over, the Frequency allocation stage will commence on next working day. During this stage, the winning bidders will be allowed to select FM Frequency for the winning channel from the frequencies already identified in the respective city & as mentioned in the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) dated 2^nd March, 2015. Frequency selection preference would be based upon the rank of the bidders i.e. Rank 1 bidder would have the first preference to choose from the frequencies already identified. It may be noted that all the identified frequencies were made available for selection and included in the NIA after the same was demanded by the industry during first pre-bid conference dated 28^th January 2015.

The following Table summarizes 21 days of bidding:

Sl No	Date of Bidding	Status at the end of Round No	No of Provisionally Won Channels	No of Cities	Cumulative Reserve Price of Provisionally Won Channels (In Crore Rs)	Cumulative Provisional Winning Price (In Crore Rs)
1	27.07.2015	4	78	54	357	395
2	28.07.2015	8	79	55	377	479
3	29.07.2015	12	80	55	377	549
4	30.07.2015	16	80	55	391	643
5	31.07.2015	20	80	55	391	714
6	03.08.2015	24	82	56	395	779
7	04.08.2015	28	83	56	395	827
8	05.08.2015	32	83	56	395	869
9	06.08.2015	36	85	56	407	900
10	07.08.2015	40	86	56	425	946
11	10.08.2015	44	87	56	425	969
12	11.08.2015	48	86	56	425	987
13	12.08.2015	52	87	56	425	1005
14	13.08.2015	56	88	56	426	1022
15	14.08.2015	60	91	56	449	1079
16	17.08.2015	64	92	56	451	1090
17	18.08.2015	68	93	56	458	1116
18	19.08.2015	72	94	56	459	1123
19	20.08.2015	76	94	56	459	1128
20	21.08.2015	80	94	56	459	1130.51
21	24.08.2015	84	94	56	459	1134

 Courtesy:pib.nic.in