Sibal favours spectrum audit by CAG

The Communications ministry has favoured audit of spectrum by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to ensure enough spectrum was available.

“The fact of the matter is we need policies in place. There are no policies in place to ensure that spectrum is adequately and effectively used. There are no policies in place for audit for companies that actually buy spectrum. We must put in place (policies) to ensure that there is spectrum sharing, spectrum trading,” Communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal told reporters at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry annual general meeting.

CAG plans a comprehensive audit of the country’s total available spectrum, as well as its strategic and commercial use. It will also determine whether the government has received fair value from the commercial use of spectrum.

CAG has written to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) seeking details on the total spectrum available, current use for strategic and commercial purposes, how much has been allocated to private telecom operators from 2000 onwards and at what value.

DoT is also conducting a study on the availability of spectrum and the quantum of allocations made till date to various operators and government agencies.

Talking about the differences between operators on spectrum allocation, Sibal said, “Why can’t we have sharing of spectrum? It’s all about partnership. It’s not about corporate war, it’s all about corporate collaboration.”

Sibal conceded implementation of the first come, first serve system to allot spectrum licences may have been faulty, but insisted auctions for the sale of this resource had not really been effective in many western countries.