It?s the one front India could easily have conquered ahead of China?3G. But that country issued the relevant licences in January, while we have kept postponing the auction date. A lot of the blame vests with Andimuthu Raja, who was appointed as communications and IT minister in the Union Cabinet in 2007. Despite collecting an array of brickbats, he was re-inducted into the post when the UPA won a second innings. Most commentators put this decision down to the pressure of coalition politics. So it makes poetic sense that on the very day that the Congress got to strengthen its hold?via assembly results confirming it?s on a roll?there was a CBI raid on the DoT office headed by Raja. This follows up on the Chief Vigilance Commission expressing concerns about irregularities in the allocation of wireless 2G spectrum. Refusing to resign in light of the raids, Raja said that all his decisions on spectrum licensing had been based on procedures laid down by Trai. For over a year, the national media has doggedly highlighted the many flaws with Raja?s defence: a) DoT had the authority to overwrite Trai?s recommendations; b) Trai, beginning 2003, had repeatedly recommended that new licences be awarded through a multi-stage auction instead of the first come first served principle to which Raja adhered; c) while Trai had suggested that there should be no cap on the number of service providers in a given service area, the cut-off date for receiving 2G applications was arbitrarily changed, thereby eliminating competition, and so on. To repeat, Raja cherry-picked Trai recommendations at will.
And at the end of the debacle, two spectrum licencee winners?Swan and Unitech, neither of which has a proven track record in the telecom business?didn?t wait long before ?auctioning? off their licences at 700% times what they paid. Some commentators claim the debacle cost the exchequer Rs 60,000 crore. That would have made a significant debt in today?s deficit. The most appalling thing is that Raja continues to jeopardise even the 3G auction. Just this week, his obduracy forced the FM to clarify that the auction would indeed take place as scheduled?it?s now slotted for January. In the intervening period, the global credit crunch has already diluted the numbers India?s government was hoping to rake off this auction. But the FM knows better than to shrug off even the reduced revenues in these strained times. Signs are that Raja will get his dues and 3G will happen more smoothly than 2G did, but here?s a cautionary tale from not so ancient history: remember it was more than a decade ago that CBI cracked down on another communications minister, Sukh Ram. But his sentence only came through this February, and all he was fined was a couple of lakhs.
