CAG sees nexus between DoT and operators The hindu

CAG sees nexus between DoT and operators
Sandeep Joshi

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DoT leaked classified information to select firms
Why frequent changes in FCFS criteria?

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NEW DELHI: It seems the companies that were granted telecom licences in 2008 had advance information on every move of the Department of Telecommunications. The Comptroller and Auditor-General report on the 2G spectrum allocation clearly indicates that the DoT leaked classified information to select firms to help them get the licences.
“The frequent changes in the first come, first served [FCFS] criteria, simultaneous issue of Letters of Intent [LoIs] to all applicants the same day and a large number of applicants complying with detailed requirements of LoI [for which 15 days are allowed as per procedure] within hours — all reflect a deliberate and unhealthy haste on the part of the DoT in going ahead with the issue of licences which tended to favour applicants who could proactively anticipate such procedural changes well in time,” the report says.
At least four controversial decisions were taken by the former Communications Minister, A. Raja, himself, violating the sanctity of the DoT's own FCFS policy, the report points out. These include “abrupt fixation of arbitrary cut-off dates in September 2007 for the receipt of applications;” “clubbing all applicants together and issuing LoIs simultaneously; “change of the method for applying the FCFS criteria from the date of receipt of application to date of compliance of LOIs.”
Pointing out how the DoT favoured a select few, the report says: “The change in the method for applying the FCFS criteria from receipt of application to compliance with the LoI made the applicants rush to comply with the LoI conditions within a few hours and in as less as an hour in respect of 24 service areas. It would therefore be evident that though the DoT took 100-550 days to process the applications as against the prescribed 30 days under its so-called FCFS policy, it gave not even an hour to the applicants to assemble on the DoT premises to collect LoIs and less than half a day to comply with the LoI conditions.”
It was noticed that 13 applicants were even ready with demand drafts drawn on dates prior to the notification of the cut-off date. “Evidently, these applicants had advance information about the issue of this notification by the DoT which enabled them to take appropriate advance action to draw the demand drafts and prepare other relevant documents for complying with the LoI conditions in spite of the changed time limit for compliance from 15 days to about half a day,” says the report.