As the radio industry continues to hot up, new entrants and old players alike are on an expansion spree in both rural and urban space.
While ADAG-promoted Big FM plans to invest Rs 400 crore in the next four months on setting up new stations, Radio Mirchi will shell out Rs 150 crore for the same by September.
“We will invest Rs 400 crore to open 41 stations to penetrate the rural India,” Big FM Human Resource Vice-President Lancelot Cutinha said.
Big FM, already has 12 stations on air and it launched its 13th one at Hisar on Friday.
“There is a big demand from the rural areas and they are welcoming it,” he said, adding the company expected to garner more advertising revenues in the near future.
Radio Mirchi, which has ten stations running currently, is also on an expansion mode to consolidate its position.
“Our target is to roll out 25 Radio Mirchi stations by September this year. We have already launched three,” Radio Mirchi CEO and MD A P Parigi said.
He said the company would be investing Rs 150 crore for the expansion, which would include the license fee and the installation fee.
In last 18 months, private FM radio industry has invested over Rs 3,000 crore in 91 cities with over 250 radio stations (existing and the ones coming up) among 45 players, Parigi said.
These stations had bagged licenses under the government’s second phase of FM radio expansion, including in Delhi and Mumbai.
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