Feb. 10: The one-man committee of retired Supreme Court judge Shivraj Patil has found that Bharti Airtel, Idea and Tata Teleservices benefited from the procedural lapses during the 2001-09 period.
The committee found that in case of Bharti Airtel an allotment of 2MHz spectrum beyond 8MHz was made for the Delhi circle in 2003, though no criteria for allotment beyond 8 MHz existed. The allotment was made in anticipation of the report of the Lalwani Committee which was approved by telecom department a month after Bharti was allocated the extra spectrum. “In the absence of a laid down procedure much less an announced one, allotment of spectrum beyond 8MHz was improper,” said the report. In Chennai Aircel stood first in the line for getting the extra spectrum over Bharti.
However, disregarding the criteria of first come first served, both the operators were given 0.6 Mhz, said the report. As per the first come first served criteria Aircel was supposed to get the available 1.4Mhz of spectrum.
The report found that Idea Cellular was given one year time to rectify deficiencies in its application in 2005 for Mumbai, when as per the rules Idea was supposed to be given only one month. The report said that such an action besides making subsequent applicants wait also could result in wastage of spectrum that would have been available for allotment.
The report also found that Idea was allowed to maintain seniority in the priority list for licence in the Mumbai service area. The report found that Tata Teleservices was given several extensions for compliance with the terms of the Letter of Intent (LoIs) in 2001 to get Basic Services Licence (BSLs).
“In the matter of BSLs, the notified guidelines didn’t have a provision for extension of time for compliance with the terms of the LoI. Despite the time frame was extended for Tata Tele Services for grant of BSLs in Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan service areas, for compliance with the LoI,” the report added.