Telecom Secretary R. Chandrashekhar on Thursday said more notices would be sent to mobile operators for missing out roll out obligations. “Two notices had been issued and 20 more notices will be issued soon for cancellation of licences for not meeting roll out obligations,” he told journalists here.
Mr. Chandrashekhar, however, did not mention the names of the companies to which these notices will be sent. Following the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General that indicted the Department of Telecommunications for not acting against defaulting companies, DoT has been issuing notices to mobile operators and imposing fines on them.
Meanwhile, the DoT has told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that is looking into the alleged 2G scam that it has issued show-cause notices to 13 companies for termination of their licences for failing to meet the eligibility criteria. “The DoT has issued show-cause notices to 13 companies for termination of the 85 new licences issued in 2008. The companies have given their replies which are under examination,” the DoT said in its reply to the PAC's questionnaire.
However, the DoT has rejected the allegation of any notional loss due to issuance of 122 new licences in 2008 and said the premium placed on the scarce resource from the perspective of a producer need not necessarily translate into a loss when seen from the view point of the consumer and public welfare.
“The concept of notional loss when spectrum is given at a price discovered a few years earlier has to be balanced with the gains accruing to the consumers and the general improvement in public welfare in the form of faster economic growth,” the DoT said.
In its audit report, the CAG had put the notional loss to the exchequer between Rs.57,000 crore and Rs.1.76-lakh crore (based on various assumptions).
