Mumbai, March 17 (IANS): The All India Radio's (AIR) FM service is expected to cover the entire country within the next two-and-half years, union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said on Tuesday while launching the service in Mumbai.

Inaugurating the new FM transmitter for Vividh Bharati Service, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rathore said around 40 percent of the country was presently covered by the FM service and the remaining 60 percent would be taken up in the next two-and-half years.

At present, 400 FM transmitters are available in India, and another 250 shall be added in the next two-three years, he said.

Available on Akashvani at 102.8 MHz, the FM Vividh Bharati Service will serve around 20 million (two crore) people in and around Mumbai.

With its availability on FM, the popular Vividh Bharati can now be heard on mobile phones and while in transit. It will continue to be available on radio on SW and MW.

Rathore said AIR and Doordarshan were "like old friends which we take for granted", but following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interactions with people on radio, it has now regained its prominence.

"With 92 percent coverage of the country, AIR touches everyone's lives and radio gives us information, knowledge and entertains us without distracting us like television or social media," he said.

AIR Director-General Fayyad Sharyad, renowned broadcaster Amin Sayani, and film personalities Jackie Shroff and Vikram Gokhale were among the dignitaries present.