Won’t cancel 2G licences,will get firms to pay: Sibal

“We will recover the revenue lost…we will define parameters and assess the value of spectrum. We will say keep your spectrum but give us more money for the cheap licences you got. We cannot do injustice to genuine investors and cannot deprive customers of telecom services. But the loss the exchequer has faced must be compensated,” Sibal said.

Stating that Prime Minister Singh was “sensitive” and a man of integrity,Sibal took a dig at Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy who had approached the Supreme Court seeking sanction for prosecution of former Telecom Minister A Raja. “How can Swamy himself investigate the case? There is a due procedure and (there are) agencies for this. He has no base to say that the PM should have dealt with this,” Sibal said.

The minister,who took charge on Tuesday,said that the PM has to wait for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete and submit its report before he can direct the agency to press for sanction against Raja.

The letters sent by Swamy were motivated and to gain political mileage,he said. In fact,he said the Prime Minister should not have responded to Swamy’s letters at all.

Reacting to Swamy approaching the Supreme Court seeking sanction for prosecution of former Telecom Minister Raja,Sibal said,“If an individual,who believed himself to be an investigating agency,does not take recourse to law and expects,on the basis of newspapers reports,the Prime Minister to respond and sanction,it will be a sad day for the country”.

“Swamy realised that if he had gone with these documents to the court of law,it would have rubbished it and put it in the dustbin,” he said adding that Swamy was attaching newspaper reports with every letter he wrote to the PM. “On every letter,in fact,the Prime Minister has sought information because he is a sensitive human being apart from being the Prime Minister of the country,” he added.

He said there is no doubt that something illegal has happened as the process was not transparent. “From the ministry’s point of view,the way Raja acted,the process was wrong…he did everything without consulting the PMO,” Sibal said. As to what would be the basis for asking more money from licencees,he said it would be worked out by his department. According to sources,it could be on the basis of the auction bid for 3G spectrum or the money that some private operators were ready to shell out in 2007. Sibal said the DoT was examining the Trai recommendations. “I have called the secretary and asked him to prepare a note as to what was the contract like,what have been the consequences,the results,” he said.

In 2008,the telecom ministry had distributed 122 licences to new operators and about 34 dual technology licences. It gave away 2G spectrum at Rs 1,651 crore for pan-India operations.

The CAG has estimated the loss to the exchequer at Rs 1.76 lakh crore due to non-auctioning of spectrum,a development that forced A Raja to resign as Telecom Minister earlier this week. Trai had on Thursday submitted its report on the network roll-out obligations to be met by the operators and recommended cancellation of about 62 licences due to either missing the roll-out deadline or improper roll out of services. While the Trai can only recommend,it is for the ministry to initiate action.