The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has started an inquiry into telecom regulator Trai?s February 2011 recommendations on pricing 2G mobile spectrum. The CVC also wants to know from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) why it has still not recovered charges for excess spectrum held by some operators, which has led to losses for the exchequer.
The CVC has sought all related files in the DoT which are being considered for processing Trai’s recommendations. The commission has directed DoT to submit all relevant files to it by July 15.
The inquiry assumes significance since CVC has consistently questioned the decision not to auction licences in 2008 when A Raja was telecom minister. Instead, licences were given away to applicants at prices set in 2001. Not satisfied with DoT’s replies and after scrutinising the relevant files, it was the CVC which found a prima facie case of corruption and asked the CBI to register a case.
In February, Trai recommended pricing 2G spectrum ? again skipping the auctions route ? by linking 2G prices to prices discovered for 3G spectrum through last May’s auctions. The 2G rates are significant because this is the rate at which the government has to allocate additional spectrum to operators. Further, from operators like Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL and MTNL, the government has to recover charges for holding spectrum in excess of the agreed 6.2 MHz.
Trai’s spectrum pricing has become controversial, pitting incumbent operators against new operators. The regulator has come with differential pricing, wherein spectrum up to 6.2 Mhz has been priced at 53% of the 3G spectrum price and beyond it at 136% of it. This means newer operators who hold less than 6.2 MHz spectrum will pay for additional spectrum at the rate of Rs 1,769.75 crore per MHz and the incumbents will pay at Rs 4,571.87 crore per MHz.