Addressing top private telecom industry representatives at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Jagmohan said: "Is it legally, constitutionally, financially and commercially justifiable to violate contractual obligations after signing legal agreements".

Jagmohan said he had "open mind" on the issues raised by the private operators but asked them to answer four questions on "how would the public, press, Parliament, auditor general and courts view the non-recovery of Rs 3700 crore dues?" and "how was it that some companies had sold their equity at a premium if they were not doing good business?"

Reacting to the demand for a moratorium till the new telecom policy was announced, Jagmohan queried, "while each individual company had a different area of operation and signed separateagreements, why should all cases be taken up as if they constitute a single one?"

Criticising operators for non-payment of licence fees on grounds of poor financial health, Jagmohan reiterated that the real issue was of non-payment of licence fee and the consequent violation of contractual obligation."The government has an open mind on the draft discussion paper and would take all views into consideration before announcing the new telecom policy," he said, adding that there was no doubt that a strong regulatory body was a must for telecom reforms to forge ahead.

He added that government remained committed to liberalisation in the telecom sector, inviting foreign direct investments and corporatisation of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

In his address, Jagmohan said that India's biggest challenge today was to build up infrastructure with a view to take up reforms in totality. "Reforms in India are only being talked in terms of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation", he said, addingthat if reforms had to be long lasting and yield balanced results, they must cover the entire spectrum of Indian political, economic and cultural life.

Jagmohan laced his inaugural address with socio-philosophical theories and quoted from Will Durant, the celebrated American historian, besides mentioning Shankaracharya, Vivekananda and Aurobindo.

Earlier speaking at the conference, AT&T, the largest foreign telecom investor in the country said that the new policy must review current licence regime and establish a fair regulatory environment.

"These complex problems are fully within the purview of the Indian government to resolve,'' said William M Clossey head of international public affairs AT&T.

"The time that it has taken to engage in this debate has cost India billions of dollars in incremental investments in this sector. It has delayed the economic benefits and prosperity that are promise of the telecom revolution," he said. He added that government decisions will impact India's ability to attractlong-term foreign investment for other infrastructure development as well.

Vijai Kapur, chairman, CII National Committee on Communications, said the huge licence fee structure had created a mess for he entire telecom sector." The new policy must address this issue as competition is necessary for increasing tele-density across the country and making India an information super power".

Justice SS Sodhi, chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), said the 1885 Telegraph Act should be replaced with a new communications law. "At the same time, TRAI's role should be clearly defined and must be backed by legislative powers rather than be dependent on the whims of powers that be."

MTNL chairman and managing director S Rajagopalan said the new telecom policy must ensure level-playing field with private operators in view of MTNL's high workforce, archaic networks and the challenge of retaining talented staff.