wordpress blog stats
Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Indian Government Waives Off Community Radio Spectrum Fee

After receiving flak for its decision to increase the spectrum fee for community radio stations from Rs 19,100 to Rs 91,000, the Indian government has now decided to waive off the fee. In a press statement, the government said that the decision has been taken following requests from the National Advisory Council, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and the Community Radio Association for a waiver of these charges. Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications & IT has asked the Department of Telecom to devise detailed guidelines by 12th October 2012, to ensure that the spectrum was optimally used and that the channels use these airwaves 'only to inform and empower the common man'. The government informed that the government would lose Rs 25 lakh following the decision, but it was in the interest of the people as it promoted 'informed, empowered and inclusive local communities'. Community radio allows local communities, specially the ones at the grass root level to disseminate information, related to welfare, local issues and awareness. Since these  stations are operated by members of the community and supported by donor funding, and assistance from NGOs, it's difficult for them to handle the burden of a license/spectrum fee in addition to managing operations. At times, these stations cater to population groups in remote rural locations. So the government's decision comes as a breather to groups operating community radio stations as they struggle to manage costs.  According to government data, as on July 2012, there were more than 134 community radio stations, operating in the…

Please subscribe/login to read the full story.
Written By

Free Reads

Drones

News

Once the system receives the required validation, five more such MDVs will be introduced into the Commissionerate Police fleet

News

The lure of Grok AI to Premium X Subscribers might let Musk salvage the decline in the social media usage in recent times.

News

Merchants win a significant battle against Visa and Mastercard's fee structure, but the war on fair charges is far from over.

MediaNama’s mission is to help build a digital ecosystem which is open, fair, global and competitive.

Views

News

NPCI CEO Dilip Asbe recently said that what is not written in regulations is a no-go for fintech entities. But following this advice could...

News

Notably, Indus Appstore will allow app developers to use third-party billing systems for in-app billing without having to pay any commission to Indus, a...

News

The existing commission-based model, which companies like Uber and Ola have used for a long time and still stick to, has received criticism from...

News

Factors like Indus not charging developers any commission for in-app payments and antitrust orders issued by India's competition regulator against Google could contribute to...

News

Is open-sourcing of AI, and the use cases that come with it, a good starting point to discuss the responsibility and liability of AI?...

You May Also Like

News

Google has released a Google Travel Trends Report which states that branded budget hotel search queries grew 179% year over year (YOY) in India, in...

Advert

135 job openings in over 60 companies are listed at our free Digital and Mobile Job Board: If you’re looking for a job, or...

News

By Aroon Deep and Aditya Chunduru You’re reading it here first: Twitter has complied with government requests to censor 52 tweets that mostly criticised...

News

Rajesh Kumar* doesn’t have many enemies in life. But, Uber, for which he drives a cab everyday, is starting to look like one, he...

MediaNama is the premier source of information and analysis on Technology Policy in India. More about MediaNama, and contact information, here.

© 2008-2021 Mixed Bag Media Pvt. Ltd. Developed By PixelVJ

Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Name:*
Your email address:*
*
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

© 2008-2021 Mixed Bag Media Pvt. Ltd. Developed By PixelVJ