New Delhi, May 12: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry  has asked the Department of Telecommunications to roll back its decision  of a five-fold hike in spectrum fee for community radio stations. I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma has written a letter to the Secretary  (DoT) R Chandrashekhar, pointing out that Community Radio stations  did not run for profits, so the decision to raise the spectrum fee  should be reconsidered, official sources said today.
 The DoT had earlier decided to increase the annual spectrum fee  for community radio stations from Rs 19,000 to Rs 91,000. In his  letter, Varma pointed out that the I&B Ministry had not been consulted  by the DoT before this fee hike was decided.
 The five-fold increase in spectrum fee would have a crippling effect  on the growth of community radio stations in the country as many  organisations would find it impossible to meet this huge hike in  charges, Varma said in his letter.
 Community Radio is one of the focus areas of the I and B ministry  which has also considered providing financial and other support to  groups who can operate such Radio stations.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 12 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 12 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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