Bharti, Idea get advantage due to policy lapses: panel

Arbitrary decisions taken by ministry officials may have helped telecom operators like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular get spectrum, said  the one-man committee report.

For instance, additional spectrum of 2 MHz + 2 MHz beyond 8 MHz + 8 MHz was allotted to Bharti Airtel in 2003 (during the NDA regime) for Delhi service area though no criteria for allotment of the same was in existence.

"This decision was taken on the basis of note put up by the then concerned Engineer and approved by Wireless Advisor along with his deputies. This was arbitrary and selective besides being unfair to other intending applicants," the report said.

Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular also benefitted as it was provided with extra time to acquire eligibility.

Idea Cellular had made application in August 2005 for grant of licence for the Mumbai circle, while the LoI was issued in November 2006. "In the intervening period, time was extended to enable the applicant to acquire eligibility," it said.

However, there were also instances when these operators were not shown preference.

For example, for the Chennai service area, a decision was taken to divide the available spectrum of 1.4 MHz + 1.4 MHz between Bharti Airtel and Aircel, irrespective of their priority breaching the 'First Come First Serve' (FCFS) criteria.

On the basis of a note put up by another official, Idea Cellular's application for licence for West Bengal and other service areas was returned with the remarks "could not be seen" by the office of the Minister.

The further processing of the file was also withheld on the ground that a proposal had been submitted to the Minister to process the applications only after receipt of recommendations from Trai, it said.

In deviation from the prescribed procedures, start-up spectrum to Spice Communications/Idea Cellular was withheld on the ground that proposal of their merger was pending, it said.