The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently examining a few top officials from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for allegedly favouring certain operators above others, according to news reports. It is believed that DoT and TRAI simplifying the procedure for these companies to obtain Unified Access Services (UAS) licenses for 2G spectrum at low prices without competitive bidding.
In its preliminary investigation, the CBI told the Supreme Court that it is investigating why TRAI and DoT officials did not take action against those licencees who sold their stakes/ equities for a substantial sum, without fulfilling their roll-out obligations. The agency added that these companies did not comply with other licence conditions as well.
The CBI said DoT officials allegedly colluded with Swan Telecom when it got UAS licences for 13 circles for Rs 15.37 billion, and offloaded 45 per cent equity to Etisalat for Rs 42 billion.
Similarly, the CBI suspects that DoT officials colluded with Unitech Wireless, which paid Rs 16.58 billion for UAS of all 22 circles, offloaded 60 per cent equity to Telenor of Norway for Rs 61 billion.
The CBI added that these stakes were sold by the said companies even before they rolled out services and that the estimated loss to the government by grant of licences to these companies alone comes to Rs 71.05 billion.
