The attorney general of India has declined to provide a fresh opinion on the one-time licence fee to be paid by existing operators for the remaining period of their 2G licences, say news reports.
The attorney general has refused to share legal advice with the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by P Chidambaram, Minister of Finance, following the EGoM’s decision to charge existing operators an auction determined price for the 2G spectrum they hold.
EGoM had recommended to the government that GSM operators should pay a fee for spectrum held beyond 4.4 MHz, whereas CDMA operators should pay a fee for spectrum in excess of 2.5 MHz.
Earlier, the attorney general of India had had suggested that only existing GSM operators like Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India should pay the auction-determined fee for the additional spectrum and the fee should be charged retrospectively from July 2008.
