The government on Monday asserted that there was no loss to the exchequer due to allocation of 2G spectrum to some telecom companies in 2008. "2G spectrum is only alloted to the Unified Access Services licencees as per the service licensing conditions, subject to availability of spectrum," Telecom Minister A Raja informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
Raja's assertion came in the wake of the apex auditor CAG seeking explanation from the Department of Telecom on various issues including distribution of licences and allotment of spectrum. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has sent a note to DoT seeking clarification on whether the decision to advance the cut-off date to give licences to new companies was arbitrary and that has resulted in a loss of a whopping over Rs 260 billion (Rs 26,000 crore) to the government.
On allegation of irregularities, Raja said, "CBI had registered a case on October 21, last year and conducted a search on October 22 in some offices of DoT and taken custody of certain files relating to policy, issuance of UAS Licences and spectrum." Nine new companies including Unitech, Shyam Sistema, Datacom, S Tel, Loop Telecom were given licenses in 2008 at Rs 1,658 crore along with start-up 4.4 MHz spectrum, while Anil Ambani-led RCom and Tata Teleservices were allowed dual technology to offer mobile services.
RCom and Tatas prior to this were offering CDMA-based mobile services and under the dual technology they were alloted GSM spectrum. Clarifying to CAG's note, the DoT has given a detailed reply saying all decision were taken in compliance with the recommendations from the telecom regulator TRAI. The minister also said no upfront charges are levied for allotment of spectrum. "Only annual spectrum usage charges on percentage of adjusted Gross Revenue are being levied," he added.
