Nov. 21: After ordering cancellation of 69 licences, Trai is soon expected to come out with recommendations to force the telecom companies, which got free spectrum beyond contractual limits to pay for it.
“We have got indications that Trai will come out with recommendation on how old players who got extra spectrum should pay for it,” said sources in the telecom department.
The CAG report had named nine firms, which had got extra spectrum without any upfront charge. Among the private firms, Bharti has got the maximum extra spectrum beyond the contractual limit of 6.2 MHz. The other firms which got extra spectrum are BSNL (in 19 circles), Vodafone (7 circles), Idea (6 circles), MTNL (2 circles), Spice (Punjab), BPL (Mumbai), Reliance (1 circle) and Aircel (1 circle).
“While the telecom department, on one hand, was not processing pending applications for license due to non-availability of spectrum, on the other hand it was allotting spectrum to existing operators beyond the contracted limits without any upfront charges being imposed or without determination of market price of the spectrum,” said the CAG report.
The government could get an income of Rs 36,993 crore, if these operators are asked to shell out money for excess 2G spectrum at a price which is equivalent to 3G spectrum.
However, if the price is equivalent to that which was charged from CDMA operators for grant of GSM spectrum in 2007, then the value of the extra spectrum held by these operators beyond contracted limits will be Rs 2,561 crore.
Meanwhile, the CBI that is probing the 2G spectrum scam, has also started examining the recommendations made by the Telcom Engineering Centre (TEC) regarding the spectrum efficiency issues.
The TEC was asked by the telecom ministry to look into the issue of enhancement of subscriber linked spectrum allocation criteria in August 2007. “There are allegations that the department of telecommunication allegedly violated TEC recommendations while allocating 2G licenses. The CBI officials are examining the recommendations of TEC”, sources added.