After conquering the airwaves in United Kingdom and Sri Lanka, London-based Lit, one of the early birds in the radio business in UK, is eager to capture a major share of emerging radio pie in the country. However miffed by government policy of not allowing foreign equity participation in private radio stations, Lit is all set to give up his British citizenship and shift base to India. Armed with an Indian citizenship, Lit promises to be ready for the next round of bidding for FM channels.

Speaking to The Financial Express, Lit said to begin with, he plans to put in around Rs 150 crore for kick-starting the infrastructure business in India. Lit said the facilities services, to be up and running over thenext three months, will help the radio broadcasting companies to save on infrastructure cost. "Radio stations will be able to deliver their services at one-third the cost compared to what they have to incur to run their operations on their own," said Lit. The infrastructure facilities will be professionally-run and match international standards, he said. For the purpose, Lit will be tying up with an internationally-reputed facilities company. Talks are also on with prospective Indian partners for the project.

Depending on response to the services, plans are afoot to step up investment to the tune of Rs 500 crore over the next couple of years, said Lit. Lit said the transmission network, once in place, can also be used for offering telecom, Internet and other value-added services. Lit is offering consultancy services to several private radio broadcasters. Over 140 radio stations are being offered to private companies in 40 cities. Lit said he will be ready to participate in the next round of bidding of FMradio stations which are expected in another year's time.

Sunrise Radio presently runs over five private radio channels in United Kingdom and Sri Lanka. On his foray into television broadcasting arena, Lit said a consortium is being put in place to kick start a television network in the country. Not willing to give details of the project, Lit said the network should be up and running by middle of 2001.