2G dirt at BJP doorstep; raids on Airtel, Vodafone

[Yusuf]

The CBI has registered FIR for alleged irregularities amounting to a loss of Rs 508 crore for spectrum allotted in 2002 during NDA government.

Spectrum dirt at BJP doorstep, raids on Airtel, Vodafone - The Times of India

 

[Ray]

The circus begins!

 

[The Messiah]

Only an idiot thinks that one side is corrupt while the other is clean.

 

[anoop_mig25]

if so then reply given by various ministers of upa previuoslly in parliament were wrong . here is the link

UPA ministers' stand: nothing irregular about grant of excess spectrum

A fresh FIR by the CBI relating to the grant of excess spectrum (beyond 4.4 Mhz) to operators such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone (then Hutch, between 2001 and 2003, has led to a war of words between the UPA government and the BJP, which led the then NDA government.

However, statements made by telecom ministers in Parliament during 2008-09 never found anything mala fide in the grant of excess spectrum to any operator. On the contrary, assertions were made more than once that all allocations were made subject to the policies of the government of the day and there was nothing irregular about them.

Shakeel Ahmad, the then minister of state (MoS) for telecom, told the Rajya Sabha on March 20, 2008: "The initial spectrum has been allotted to the GSM operators based on their request and as per provisions of their respective Service License Agreement, subject to availability of spectrum. With growth of their services, additional spectrum, beyond the initial spectrum, has been allotted to GSM operators as per guidelines, orders and subscriber-based eligibility criteria in force at the time of allotment of such additional spectrum subject to its availability... The annual spectrum revenues have increased about 80 times during the last decade."

On April 28, 2008 the then MoS for Telecom, Jyotiraditya Scindia told the Lok Sabha: "The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had raised some queries on spectrum-related issues and necessary information was provided to them. The initial spectrum is allotted to the mobile telecom services in accordance with the relevant provisions of Unified Access Service License (UASL), subject to availability of spectrum. With growth of service and increased subscriber base, additional spectrum is allotted subject to availability as per eligibility criteria, which is based on the number of active subscribers, peak traffic of the operator's network, demographic features of the service area. The subscriber-based eligibility criteria for allotment of additional spectrum to meet the growth requirements were revised in March 2006. Subsequently, during August 2007, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI ) recommended stiffer subscriber-based eligibility criteria for allotment of additional spectrum taking into account the latest technology developments etc. The latest orders issued in January 2008 in this regard are based on TRAI recommendations. These orders of 2006 and 2008 provide criteria for GSM spectrum allotment up to 15 MHz."

n On July 13, 2009, then MoS, Telecom, Gurudas Kamat said in the Lok Sabha: "The initial spectrum has been allotted to the GSM operators based on their request and as per provisions of their respective Service Licence Agreement subject to availability of spectrum. With growth of their services, additional spectrum, beyond the initial spectrum, has been allotted to GSM operators as per guidelines, orders and subscriber based eligibility criteria in force at the time of allotment of such additional spectrum subject to its availability. There is no lacunae in the guidelines notified from time to time for spectrum allocation to the telecom operators."

n Kamat reiterated the same when the issue was raised in the Rajya Sabha on July 30, 2009. "There is no violation of licence condition in the allotment of additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, as such there is no proposal for recovery of spectrum," he had replied to a question then.

 

[Yusuf]

Well we will go back to discussing the 2G case once again but for me the basis of the case is wrong. 2G policy and the selling of spectrum was actually the best thing that ever happened in the field of telecommunication as it gave entire India connectivity at prices that are the cheapest in the world. Look how nothing has happened in the broadband fiedler and how much we pay for it and also look at 3G how expensive it is.

For me the only point is corruption within the rules or laws that were applied to give away spectrum. Not auctioning is not corruption for me. Favoritism or icing away spectrum to those intelligible within those laws for return of money is what is corruption.