PM clears air on 2G scam

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that innuendoes on alleged differences between him, the finance ministry and the telecom ministry on the manner in which telecom spectrum should be allocated were wrong and misplaced.

He said the government’s policy on spectrum pricing was taken on the basis of the 2003 Cabinet decision. Implying, the ministries of finance and telecommunications should together resolve this. Then finance minister P Chidambaram initially had a different view. But later, he and former telecom minister A Raja together worked out “an agreed formula on spectrum charges, which was reported to me in a meeting on July 4, 2008”.

 

The PM said, this decision was in line with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommendation in August 2007, where “Trai had stated, only 3G spectrum should be auctioned and the policy for 2G spectrum should continue on the same basis as hitherto”, so that there was a level playing field between new entrants and the incumbents. “The two ministers had agreed on this because of legacy considerations, and I accepted their recommendation,” he said.

However, the PM conceded, in the case of the first-come-first-served policy implementation, “the situation is more complex”.

He said he was assured by Raja that the policy was being implemented appropriately, with one departure which had been cleared by the Solicitor General. “Subsequent developments suggest this was not the case. The matter was taken up for investigation by CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) in 2009. The government at no stage interfered with this investigation,” the PM said.

He added the government had to act on the basis of rule of law and, “No one should have any doubt that those found guilty of manipulating the system unfairly will be severely dealt with under the law.” The PM conceded there may have been gaps in the way the telecom policy was implemented but added the policy itself had been salutary for consumers. Citing statistics of tele-density which went up from seven per cent in March 2004 to 66 per cent in December 2010,Singh said the policy had paid ‘rich dividends’.