DoT to decide on pending issues earlier referred to EGoM

The decision came after the government decided to abolish all EGoMs and GoMs

An internal committee of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will now look intoissues of 2G and 3G spectrum auction, guidelines for spectrum trading andrelease of spectrum from the Defence forces. The decision came after the government decided to abolish all EGoMs (empowered group of ministers) and GoMs (group of ministers).

Telecom issues which were already referred to the EGoMs for a decision, will also be taken up by the Ministry through a separate case, according to a latest document of DoT. The work that is yet to be completed include vacation of spectrum, auction for 3Gspectrum and grant of license and allocation of spectrum in 2G band in 22 service areas and auction of spectrum in 700 Mhz band.

The list of cases that were referred to EGoM and the issues that are still pending has to be sent to the Cabinet Secretariat, according to the note. During UPA-II, 27 GoMs and 24 EGoMs were formed with Defence minister A K Antony heading most of them.The decision to scrap them was taken to expedite decision makingprocess and bring in more accountability in the system.