Sam Pitroda, advisor to the Prime Minister, has favoured auction of spectrum for telecom service providers, saying it is “the best way forward”.
“There has to be a transparent mechanism, where equal treatment is meted out to all…. the 3G spectrum auction last year has shown that auction of spectrum is the best way forward,” he told Business Standard.
Pitroda, however, declined to comment anything on the issues raised following the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) report on 2G spectrum.
Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal had recently claimed the CAG report, which said allotment of new licences in 2008 at a price fixed in 2001 caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the government, was completely wrong. Despite Sibal’s assertion, CAG stood by its report.
“I have no comments to offer. Let them settle their differences on their own,” Pitroda said, when asked to comment on Sibal’s claim.
In February last year, Pitroda had given a report on ways and means to revive state-run telecom major BSNL. However, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has not implemented the recommendations of the report. It is learnt DoT has kept aside key proposals due to the ailing financial health of BSNL and stiff opposition from its employees.
“I had listed out 15 recommendations on BSNL’s restructuring, which I felt could be done. Now, it is for them (DoT) to decide whether to accept it or not,” he said.
The report had suggested 30 per cent disinvestment of BSNL in phases and laying off about 100,000 employees through voluntary retirement, among other things. But the report met with stiff opposition from the employees. For the first time since its inception, BSNL had posted a loss of over Rs 1,800 crore for 2009-10 due to increased competition and declining market share.
