AIR to offer complete solution to Mumbai FM players

Nivedita Mookerji

New Delhi, Jan 6: Although Prasar Bharati recently signed agreements with private FM radio players for co-location of their transmitters on All India Radio towers in all metros except Mumbai, now it has decided to offer a complete solution package in Mumbai as well. Those with licences for Mumbai are Entertainment Network, Radio Today, Millennium Mumbai, Music Broadcast Pvt Ltd and Radio Mid-day West.

As the AIR tower in Mumbai is too old, it is not in a position to co-locate transmitters of private operators, it was officially announced. However, Prasar Bharati has chalked out an alternative plan for Mumbai FM licensees now, according to sources. Prasar Bharati officials will meet private FM operators on January 9 to offer them a complete solution package for Mumbai.

The terms and conditions of the Mumbai offer are expected to be decided on the day of the meeting itself. The capital investment for the Mumbai solution package, which includes building a new tower, is estimated at Rs 15 crore. Said an AIR official that it was not known as to how much of that investment private players were ready to share.

Making it a fool-proof offer, Prasar Bharati has kept a second option ready, in case the private licensees don’t accept the total solution package. While the total solution would mean that the private players get to co-locate their transmitters on a newly-made tower and use the AIR land and building, the second option will entail only the use of AIR land and building. The charges for these facilities will have to be worked out.

Even if private FM players agree to accept the AIR total solution package for Mumbai, they will need to get their interim operations ready within the next four months. For the permanent tower, however, Mumbai FM licensees have time till December 2003. Prasar Bharati is planning to offer the total solution package for the permanent set up in Mumbai. Last week, the government granted additional time to FM licensees in Mumbai, as the AIR tower in the city was not in a position to take the extra load of FM transmitters of private players.

It may be recalled that the government had asked FM players to co-locate their transmitters on a single tower in the metro cities because spectrum is a scarce resource. Private FM players were given one year from the time of allocation of frequency to set up their operations. However, because some of the FM licensees went to court against the government over terms and conditions of the licence, the remaining players could not set up their operations in time due to the uncertainty over co-location. Then, to facilitate the co-location process, Prasar Bharati stepped in with its offer to allow co-location on AIR towers in metros.