 "DoT responsible for not implementing unified licensing: JPC")
Based on the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), on October 31, 20013, the Cabinet had decided to de-link spectrum from licensing. However, this “remained a reality on paper only”, the JPC report said. After the impasse on the Communications Convergence Bill, DoT had decided to continue with unified access service (UAS) licensing, the report added.
Now, the government is considering a unified licensing regime.
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The JPC draft report said a press release on January 10, 2008, had said DoT had been implementing a ‘first-come-first-served’ policy for granting UAS licences. Under this, the application received first would be processed first and thereafter, if found eligible, it would be granted a letter of intent. Then, whoever complied with the conditions of the letter of intent would be granted a UAS licence.
However, the JPC couldn’t find any record to ascertain on what basis DoT officials had proposed the ‘first-come-first-served’ policy, as indicated in the letter of the minister of communications and information technology dated December 26, 2007, to the prime minister, be treated as a policy directive for licensing matters.
The committee had found A Raja, then minister of communications and information technology, had deleted the last paragraph of the press release — “However, if more than an applicant complies with LoI (letter of intent) condition on the same date, the inter-se seniority would be decided by the date of application”.
The report said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had stated the note on January 7, 2008, was “forged by the minister of communications and information technology”. It added the CBI had claimed it had forensic evidence to substantiate its claim.
The solicitor general had told the JPC he hadn’t seen the deletion of the last paragraph of the press release, adding he had only noticed this during a hearing on the licence cancellation proceedings in the Supreme Court.
The draft report said A Raja had, in a written reply to JPC, said, “After I had recorded my approval to the note put up by the Department of Telecommunications officials and directed them to take the opinion of the solicitor general, my attention was drawn to the fact that the last paragraph of the draft press release was not in conformity with what had been approved on the file. It would, in fact, create a totally new method of grant of licences. I, therefore, deleted the last paragraph, recorded that it was a new stipulation and also recorded in the file that the press release was being approved as ‘amended’ (by me). Only then was the file marked to the secretary (T) for showing it to the solicitor general. I wish to emphasise my note was written prior to the file being sent to the solicitor general and nothing was inserted after the file came back from him.”
The draft report stated the JPC had concluded this was not only unusual, but a sad commentary on the functioning of the department. “The committee cannot but conclude that the evil design of implementation of the process of distribution of LOIs only corroborates to the extent to which the first-come-first-served criterion, in essence, was diluted and the established practices were violated. Considering all the licences have since been quashed by the Supreme Court, the committee refrains from making any further comment in the matter,” the report added.
It said until January 7, 2008, the Department of Telecommunications had projected the correct picture about the procedure followed in issuing UAS licences. But after January 7, 2008, the procedure adopted by them was a clear departure from the established practice. It was mentioned that G E Vahanvati, former solicitor general, was in the know of the procedure approved by the Department of Telecommunications on January 7, 2008.
According to the JPC report, Vinod Vaish, former DoT secretary, had a conversation with former Trai chairman Pradip Baijal over the telephone, seeking a clarification on the entry fee to be charged for UAS licences.