The expansion of FM radio Phase III may happen in this fiscal only, as the Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley said that the I&B Ministry and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are considering aspects related to this process.
Government in its quest to meet the fiscal deficit target will rake in more revenue with the Phase III expansion of FM radio, as the I&B Minister Arun Jaitley who plays the double role of Finance Minister as well, said that "If I could have my way, it should be in this financial year because I now speak in both capacities. March 31, and some more revenue to the government has some relevance to me."
In one of the features of the approved policy for Phase-III, Radio operators have been permitted carriage of news bulletins of All India Radio only in an unaltered form, the I&B minister has said that he will consider this at length.
FM Phase-Ill Policy extends FM radio services to about 227 new cities, in addition to the present 86 cities, with a total of 839 new FM radio Channels in 294 cities. Phase -III policy will result in coverage of all cities with a population of one lakh and above with private FM radio channels. FM Phase-I Policy was approved by the Government in July, 1999, while the improved FM Phase-II Policy was notified in July, 2005 after considering the recommendations of Dr.Amit Mitra Committee and TRAI.