New telecom companies, which were issued show cause notices and faced cancellation of 2G spectrum licences after India's audit body, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) indicted them for missing out on roll-out obligations have been let off with a fine. These operators are now in the clear having paid nearly Rs 216 crore as penalties to the government, which is a fraction of the intrinsic value of the 2G licence.
"We have received Rs 215.6 crore as liquidated damages from the new service providers for missing out on roll-out obligations out of total Rs 342.6 crore demand till January 21," telecom secretary R. Chandrasehkar has said. The department of telecommunications (DoT) had issued 119 notices to new telecom operators for missing their network roll-out obligations last month and imposed hefty penalties on them.
If industry sources are to be believed, it is unlikely that action would be taken against any telecom operator to an extent that they lose their licences.
"Now by paying the fine, they are unlikely to face any action. Operators have made money by indulging in all wrongdoings by violating norms and have now been let off free by paying a fine, which is a fraction of the size of the 2G licence. Even the government has sided with these operators," said an industry official who did not wish to be named.
"This will make these operators powerful enough to dictate their terms to the government," said an industry official who sought anonymity.
"Rather, the government should have taken action and some should have lost their licence. But the government has surrendered," said the senior official working with a foreign telecom company.
Last week, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia towing the UPA government's line had defended Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom for selling their stakes after securing airwaves. This is despite the fact that India's audit body, the CAG has said in its report that the government lost Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the 2G spectrum scam.
"It's widely been said and, I think, the public is being misled quite a bit into this. There has been no loss to the exchequer. What the CAG has done is not, in my view, the correct way of doing it," Ahluwalia had said last week.
The Opposition has alleged that promoters of Swan and Unitech Wireless - now renamed Etisalat and Uninor - had reaped a windfall by selling their stakes after being allotted 2G telecom spectrum at dirt cheap rates.
Uninor and Etisalat are among 11 companies that have been issued notices by the Supreme Court on a plea seeking cancellation of licences for 2G phone services during Raja's tenure.
The other companies are Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, S-Tel, Loop Telecom, Videocon, Allianz Infra, Dishnet Wireless and Vodafone-Essar.
Similarly, telecom minister Kapil Sibal while undermining the CAG report had stated that its calculation of Rs 1.76 lakh crore losses in the 2G scam was a wrong method adopted by it and was totally erroneous.
The CAG in November last year had said the government of India could have lost about Rs 1.76 lakh crore by selling 2G spectrum in 2008 at prices prevailing in 2001.
Courtesy: Mail Today 
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