India’s media regulator says new policy guidelines for Phase III of licencing of private FM radio will be ready within a month.

But the Business Standard newspaper quoted an official from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that the auction of 839 new FM frequencies may be further delayed as a code of conduct was yet to be in place.

The official made the comment after a meeting with the information and broadcasting ministry.

Phase III will see private FM radio reach India’s smaller cities and towns for the first time; a handful of new licences in larger cities are expected to be hotly contested.

The proposals will also see foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector rise from the current 21 to 49 percent.

But Phase III has been delayed several times and the industry maintains that reserve fees for the proposed auctions remain too high.