An Open House meet was organised in Delhi on the reserve price for auction of channels in Phase III of FM expansion in India on Monday, according to Indiantelevision.com.

This follows media regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) recommendation that the reserve price for channels in Phase III auctions should be 0.8 times of the valuation of FM channels in that city.

It had asked stakeholders if they agreed with the proposed methodology for determining the valuations of channels in 253 new cities in phase III.

Their views had to be sent in by February 25.

For 11 new cities located in the border areas, it recommended a reserve price of $7976 (Rs 500,000) to encourage the participation of prospective bidders and ensure that the true market value of the channels in each city is discovered during the process of auction.