“A few large existing GSM players have in fact unjustifiably taken away precious and scarce spectrum in the past free of cost, far in excess of their actual requirements and far in excess of the 6.2 MHz they were entitled to under their licenses,” he wrote.

The COAI petition, which earlier represented five out of the eight telecom operators, is now down to three operators, reflecting its own “lack of credibility”, he said, adding that this clearly demonstrated the misleading nature of the claims made by COAI and a few major GSM players.

Ambani pointed out that although the GSM operators have been vocally criticising the spectrum allocation norms as recommended by Trai and in the TEC report, but they are yet to furnish any scientific data to challenge the revised norms. GSM operators want dilution of Trai norms and TEC, the competent technical body, report so they can get even more spectrum now and in the future, whereas the situation actually requires them to return spectrum, he said. “I am confident that, under your (Prime Minister) guidance and advise, these motivated efforts of the existing GSM players will not be allowed to succeed, and instead, the government will take all necessary steps for the accelerated growth of the telecom sector,” Ambani said.