MUMBAI: The government is likely to waive off the hike in spectrum fee usage for community radio stations following demand for a rollback from Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry and community radio forums.

According to sources, the issue was raised by Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) minister Ambika Soni's with Telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday pressing the point that the fee would have damaging repercussions on the existence of community radio stations in the country. The move came after widespread concerns that many organisations which were involved in running community radio stations may not be able to afford the increased fees.

If the rollback is implemented, it will give the community radio stations a new lease of life and help them in sustaining the business model for a long term.

Speaking to Radioandmusic.com about the rollback, Mumbai based community radio Jago Mumbai's station head creative & programming Nitin Makasare said, "It is a very encouraging step for all community radio stations. Two months ago there was a lot of scepticism on how the stations would run and sustain with such a steep hike. But the rollback will help more community radios to come up and also remove the financial burden from our backs."

The telecom ministry had recently increased the fee for community radio stations by five times from Rs 19,000 to Rs 93,000, sparking protests by various organizations including community radio forums.

Earlier, I&B secretary Uday Kumar Varma had also written to his counterpart in the Communication and Information Technology ministry urging a rollback of the decision.

In most areas of India, grass-roots organisations like NGOs involved in developmental work are running community radio. Keeping in mind their social contribution, the I&B ministry was also trying to promote them through various initiatives. Any community radio station registered with the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) is entitled to 30 second advertisements from the government at Rs 4 per second. They are also further lending support through the central govt funds helping in the set up of new community radio stations across the country.

While monetizing and earning revenues remains a major cause of concern for most stations, the fee rollback is a positive sign and brings a ray of hope to stations across the country.

"Everyone knows it's difficult to monetize and make revenues for community radios like ours. We at Jago Mumbai believe that visibility is the key and with help from the government through the advertisements, we are hoping to reach out to more people and increase listenership. The steps are indeed a ray of hope for us whose aim is to provide information to people who do not have access to it,"Makasare added.