Since November 2010, the telecom department has been in a bind. This was the period when A Raja resigned in the aftermath of the full exposure of the 2G scam and Kapil Sibal came onto the hot seat. Around the same time, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) suggested that some 74 licences given by Raja be cancelled because the companies have failed to roll out services within the stipulated time-frame. Sibal announced in a press conference that he would be sending out notices to the companies as to why their licences should not be cancelled. It seemed he meant business.
But, in subsequent months, nothing happened. There was a petition in the Supreme Court asking for the cancellation of the licences and Sibal and his secretary always said that they could not cancel the licences unless the Supreme Court order on the matter came.
Looking from that perspective, Sibal and his officials should have been relieved once the SC order cancelling the 122 licences came on February 2. However, that?s not the case. The dilemma for Sibal and his team has, in fact, increased as to what to do post the order. This is the single-most important matter being discussed in the telecom department since then, culminating in a meeting the Prime Minister convened with Sibal and some other senior Cabinet colleagues on February 11.
Last week, Sibal followed it up with a brainstorming session with his officials at his residence. Officials said that most of the time was spent in dousing Sibal?s unease at the judgment since it had quashed his zero loss theory and the stand that there was nothing wrong with the first-come-first-served (FCFS) policy.
In an emotional outburst, Sibal was keen at the meeting that the department file a review or a curative petition in the Supreme Court on the order. However, the officials were not keen to follow this line, but the issue was, who tells the minister? Finally, a senior bureaucrat mustered up his courage, cleared his throat and said that any such move on the part of the government would only add insult to injury. The better option would be to let the operators, as aggrieved parties, take any such step.
It clicked, and Sibal?s emotional outburst was succeeded by rationality. With that done, the rest of the evening passed off in deciding on other mundane matters like figuring out how to conduct the auctions, whether to allow the cancelled licensees to continue adding subscribers and what to do with those operators who got licences through FCFS prior to 2008. Presentations were made on all the options, tea and snacks were consumed and the group dispersed only to realise the next morning that what road to take was still undecided!
anandita.mankotia@expressindia.com