NEW DELHI: Although Hyderabad and Dehradun continued to lead with bids of Rs 23,43,48,266 and Rs 15,61,00,590, respectively in the FM radio’s Phase III auctions for frequencies, the first fortnight remained disappointing with little movement in the bids or the price percentage increase on completion of 55 rounds.

In fact, the number of rounds fell from four to three for the first time on the 14th day of auction on 21 November 2016. While Muzaffarpur showed a price percentage increase of one, 44 cities have still failed to attract any bids.

Agartala has joined the band of Alappuzha (Alleppey), Erode, Hubli-Dharwad, Nellore, Salem, Vellore and Vijaywada where bids remained at just over Rs 70 million. Bids for Tiruchy increased to just above Rs 50 million and Tirupathi and Puducherry to a little over Rs 40 million. Amravati, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Ujjain bid a little over Rs 35 million and Mysuru a little over Rs 32 million.

Thus, apart from minor rise in Agartala and Ujjain, there has been little movement in other cities over the past week. The first day of auction on 26 October 2016 saw a winning price of Rs 1,820 million against the aggregate price of Rs 1,792 million, while the second day saw low bids and no bids from three cities.

Meanwhile, South Asia FM Ltd has been declared as the winning bidder for five radio FM channels, just a day after the commencement of the auction for the second batch of Phase III. The company will be allotted frequencies in Surat, Amritsar, Patna, Chandigarh and Jammu.

South Asia FM Limited, one of the 14 shortlisted bidders, is a public incorporated entity. It is classified as a non-government company and is registered at Chennai. Its authorized share capital is Rs. 6,550,000,100 and its paid up capital is Rs. 6,153,605,100.It is involved in motion picture, radio, television and other entertainment activities.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) sources told indiantelevision.com that the aim was to continue till all the channels slated in the second batch were auctioned.

This data has been compiled on the basis of system-generated “Final Round Result Report” and “Frequency Identification Report” accessible through auction administrator role.

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