Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was tonight understood to have asked Telecom Minister A Raja to ensure full competition among service providers and disfavoured referring the controversial spectrum allocation issue to a Group of Ministers.
Raja is understood to have got the directions when he met the Prime Minister here late this evening.
Sources said some of the cabinet ministers had broached the spectrum allocation to the Prime Minister and suggested the issue be referred to GOM.
The Prime Minister had disfavoured the suggestion and instead asked Raja to ensure a level-playing field, a move that could help a score of experienced players to get into the GSM-based mobile services.
The telecom industry is divided over spectrum allocation norms with GSM operators opposing the new norms as recommended by the Telecom Engineering Centre and CDMA operators favouring them.