ineligible telcos

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on 2G spectrum allocation has been tabled in Rajya Sabha. The report details some crucial aspects especially the financial impact and the calculations of the CAG with respect to the financial impact of the 2007 decision of the department of telecom (DoT) to issue licences to several new entrants. The CAG has found 85 of the 122 licences granted to be ineligible in its report.

The CAG report says that the 2G licences were awarded in an unfair, arbitrary and inequitable manner. The report has charged the department of telecom and several telecom companies' violations in the 2G spectrum award process. The CAG added in its report that there are some existing operators who have additional spectrum.

Rekha Gupta, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General said, "The entry fee of 2001 adopted for migration of existing service operators was extended to the new operators without decision on determination of spectrum prices. The decision of the Cabinet in 2003 for DoT to discuss spectrum pricing and efficient allocation of spectrum with the Finance Ministry were ignored despite the finance ministry's advice due to which the UAS licences continued to be awarded in 2008 at a price discovered from a nascent market of 2001."

Speaking to reporters, Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that a final decision on a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G scam will be taken tomorrow. Mukherjee said, " The leaders of the opposition have expressed their views. They want a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe. I explained to them our difficulty and finally told them that we shall have to discuss among ourselves. And after discussing I will communicate to them by tomorrow."

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Pradip Baijal, Former Chairman, TRAI; and SD Saxena, Former Director, BSNL, gave their perspectives on the CAG report and the 2G spectrum scam.