seven point set of solutions to make the sector more transparent.

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar wrote to telecoms minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday, offering a sevenpoint set of solutions to make the sector more transparent.

The country's largest scam involving a notional loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer had led to former telecoms minister A Raja's resignation, exposing the government to a relentless attack by the Opposition that questioned the government's credibility.

Chandrasekhar, a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology in a letter to Sibal wrote about ridding the sector of lobbyists that influence policymaking and level playing field for operators among other pointers for the new telecoms minister's consideration.

Open access of lobbyists and former government officials working as lobbyists to influence telecom policy-making should be stopped immediately and instead include view points of consumer groups, citizens and the media, said the Member of Parliament from Karnataka.

"Till this balance is restored, all policy dialogues will continue to be skewed in favor of corporates who often indulge in regulatory capture and their healthy track record is already known to all and is in public domain," reads Chandrasekhar's letter, a copy of which is with ET.

Chandrasekhar, who was one of the early entrants to the telecoms business, said that policy decisions keeping the government away from corporate interests were required most, claiming the government and telecom regulator TRAI took policy decisions favoring some companies. While welcoming department of telecom's notices to 85 licencees for being ineligible recipients and not meeting rollout obligations he added DoT's actions in the future to be in public domain and responses to the notices should be open to scrutiny.

He also alleged, "The DoT has a long track record of colluding with private companies and therefore you will understand the suspicion and concern that the DoT may blandly accept the responses of the Telecom companies to the show cause notices."

In the letter to Sibal, Chandrasekhar also wanted more teeth for Trai guaranteed financial and functional independence with changes to the legislation that does not leave room for DoT to selectively interpret Trai's recommendations. Further, the regulator's functioning needs accountability and Parliamentary oversight. "The whole area of Trai's accountability to Parliament is highly questionable, especially given the fact that its current relationship with DoT and Mo-CIT smacks of a conflict of interest, with retired DoT secretaries invariably becoming Trai chairman. It (Trai) is unable to check the government when the TRAI Act is being violated by DoT," he said.

Pointing out a direct conflict of interest between Trai and DoT, Chandrasekhar asked the minister to include neutral views from analysts, media, Members of Parliament, Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, as well as citizen groups, in the ongoing investigations into the 2G spectrum controversy.

In a seperate development, telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said the growth in the sector is essentially centered on adequate spectrum availability, assuring government will make all efforts to provide requisite airwaves to meet industry's demand.