The department of telecommunications (DoT) has no plans at the moment to take action on the dual-technology licences granted by former telecom minister A Raja. Dual-technology refers to telcos who had CDMA-based mobile licences and were granted GSM licences as well. Of the Rs 1,76,000 crore of losses estimated by the CAG, Rs 37,000 crore pertained to dual-technology firms. DoT secretary R Chandrasekhar confirmed this to FE. ?No, nothing is being done yet,? he replied to a question on the likely action on dual-technology licences.
Chandrasekhar also said the government had not issued show-cause notices to the 69 licensees recommended for action by Trai ? the Trai had recommended cancelling these licences for not rolling out their networks. While these 69 licences are also part of the 85 licences whom the CAG said were ineligible, the difference is important.
The DoT has only asked these licensees to give an explanation about their faulty paperwork ? like their memorandum of association not giving telecom as an area of business. Assume the firms can explain this: They could say their boards had okayed the new business and the date of the board resolution is the effective date. In which case, not issuing show-cause notices for failing to meet rollout obligations could be critical.
Meanwhile, the spectrum scam-hit department has decided to put up all details pertaining to spectrum on its website in order to promote transparency. As part of the new minister’s drive to make the sector more transparent, the DoT website would soon give details pertaining to the total quantum of both 2G and the 3G spectrum, the amount allotted to each operator and details pertaining to defence bands.