eNews
TRAI reverses course on radio migration fees
DELHI: India’s telecoms regulator has U-turned on how private radio broadcasters should pay to shift to digital, ditching a convoluted averaging mechanism in favour of simpler reserve prices.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRA) issued a corrigendum on 27 October revising recommendations it sent to the ministry of information and broadcasting just three weeks earlier. The original policy, dated 3 October, had proposed that when cities failed to attract bids for new digital frequencies, migration fees for existing broadcasters should be calculated by averaging prices from similar-sized cities—but only if at least two cities in that category had received successful bids.
The authority has now binned that approach. Upon review, regulators spotted that the averaging formula “could lead to certain aberrations in the migration amount vis-à-vis reserve price” in cities drawing no bids. Since reserve prices emerge from a formal valuation model and represent the minimum auction amount anyway, they make a more sensible baseline.
The ministry had sought the regulator’s advice in April 2024 on framing a digital broadcast policy for private radio operators. Under the revised scheme, existing broadcasters wanting to simulcast in digital mode will pay an amount equal to the reserve price for new frequencies, minus the proportionate one-time entry fee already paid for their remaining licence period.
The climbdown suggests India’s radio digitisation may prove trickier than expected—particularly if multiple cities fail to attract fresh bidders, leaving regulators scrambling for fair pricing formulas that don’t distort the market
eNews
Paisabazaar launches Credit Premier League 2.0
Nationwide campaign rewards highest credit scores with Rs 1 lakh top prize.
MUMBAI: When credit scores become a national league, even your CIBIL report starts feeling like it’s playing in the IPL and Paisabazaar has just kicked off the second season. Paisabazaar, India’s leading marketplace for financial products and the country’s largest free credit score platform, has announced the return of the Credit Premier League (CPL) 2.0, a fun, nationwide initiative to recognise and reward individuals with the highest credit scores.
Building on the success of the first edition, CPL 2.0 introduces higher rewards and broader participation. The individual(s) with the highest credit score in the country will win Rs 1 lakh, while state champions will each receive Rs 10,000. Additionally, all participants from the winning state, the one with the highest average credit score will also be rewarded.
All winnings will be credited directly to winners’ PB Wallet, allowing them to pay credit card bills, recharge mobiles, or settle utility bills seamlessly on the Paisabazaar platform.
Paisabazaar CEO Santosh Agarwal said the campaign aims to make credit awareness more engaging and mainstream. “With CPL, we are bringing together engagement, gamification and rewards to make conversations around credit scores more mainstream,” he noted. “Our focus remains on building a financially aware and credit-healthy Bharat.”
The first edition of CPL saw over 5.5 million participants, with the highest individual score touching 861. Delhi recorded the highest average credit score of 746.
Consumers can participate simply by checking their free credit score on the Paisabazaar platform or app. The CPL leaderboard and rankings will be available exclusively on the Paisabazaar App.
In a country where financial dreams are serious business, Paisabazaar has found a smart way to turn credit scores into an exciting game – because when your financial health gets rewarded, everyone wants to play.
