He only said: ``We'll give all the answers next week.'' As is already known, Zee has suffered in the stock market and is finding it hard to raise crores of rupees needed as guarantee money for its ambitious FM project. As for the other players, Ispat Group's Music Broadcasting Pvt Ltd, which refused to sign the papers on Oct 13, saying it was Friday the 13th and therefore not auspicious enough, had categorically stated that the company would sign on the dotted lines on Monday. But on Monday, the I&B ministry officials said that Music Broadcasting would sign the FM agreement on Tuesday.

Nobody is forthcoming on why Music Broadcasting has chosen to wait further. Another FM licensee, Mid-Day Group, has signed three agreements to set up channels in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. So far, it's the only one to have signed the deal, but it's also in waiting. One of the CEOs for the Mid-Day FM channels, Mr Nischind Chawla, said on Monday: ``For the metros, we will have to be in a consortium with the other players. Till everybody signs the agreement, we cannot decide the height of the towers for our channels.''So, Mr Chawla is asking for at least 15 days to find out things for himself.

``I can finally get to a situation in another 15 days,'' he said. That means, he cannot apply for a clearance from the Wireless Planning & Coordination Wing (WPC) and the Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocation (SACFA), till others have actually signed the agreements. The government, on its part is waiting too. An I&B official, for example said on Monday that around three companies are expected to sign the FM agreement this week. But he refused to name any company. ``Till they actually sign, we're not sure,'' he said.