A parliamentary committee, headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, has sought a factual note from the Ministry of Communications regarding reports that the ministry allowed telecom service providers to surrender spectrum acquired before 2022. In a letter to the ministry, the committee requested the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide a factual note on the matter by March 5, 2025.
“In light of the above, the DoT is requested to furnish a factual note on the matter for the consideration of the Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology by Wednesday, March 5, 2025,” reads the letter.
According to a report, the DoT plans to allow telecom companies to surrender excess spectrum acquired in auctions before 2022. If accepted by the government, this move could help Vodafone Idea save up to `40,000 crore, as the debt-laden telco intends to return its excess airwaves to the government. However, a DoT official clarified that there is no such spectrum surrender policy in the pipeline, and the government does not intend to refund any amounts to telcos. As per the report, the proposal is believed to be part of the government's efforts to ensure a competitive telecom sector with three healthy competitors—Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea—along with state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
The letter also highlighted the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report (CAG report of 2015) on irregularities in the auction of spectrum for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services. The BWA auction process allowed UAS/CMTS and ISP operators to bid on the same spectrum despite differing usage rules. Infotel (now Reliance Jio Infocomm) was allowed to migrate to a Unified Licence after the auction, gaining an unfair advantage of `3,367.29 crore. This was done at 2001 prices, despite the auction taking place later. Additionally, the rollout of BWA services was extremely slow, taking over four years.
“The UAS/CMTS and ISP operators were allowed to bid for the same BWA spectrum while the usage of spectrum was governed by their respective licences…. DoT facilitated the request by permitting them to migrate toUnified Licence after the auction. This migration, allowed at prices discovered in 2001, resulted in undue advantage of 3,367.29 crore to M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm (formerly M/s Infotel). It was also seen that even after four years of auction the roll out of BWA services has been negligible,” reads the letter.