The Ministry of Communications and IT has sought legal opinion on the recent report by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), so as to undertake further course of action. According to CAG, non-imposition of fines and the undue benefits extended to companies including Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), Bharti Airtel, Teliance Communications (RCOM) and Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) led to financial gaps to the tune of over Rs 310 billion.
The auditor had also stated that the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) allowed operators to enter into mutual commercial agreements for intra-service area roaming, without any additional charge, which led to a benefit of Rs 96.04 billion to the operators.
CAG also contended that RJIL?s migration to a unified licence from the Internet service provider licence it had obtained earlier at a price discovered in 2001, caused a loss of Rs 33.67 billion to the exchequer. Meanwhile, it accused DoT of allowing Bharti Airtel to get undue advantage by merging the Tamil Nadu and Chennai circles in 2005. This had led to the Airtel?s licence in Chennai getting a seven-year extension, from November 2014 to September 2021, coinciding with the expiry date of the license in the Tamil Nadu circle.
The CAG had also stated that despite the TRAI?s recommendations, DoT did not auction spectrum in the 800 MHz band in 2010. This had resulted in non-realisation of upfront charges amounting to Rs 96.26 billion. Similarly, DoT?s grant of dual-technology licences in October 2007, without implementing TRAI?s suggestion to levy an additional spectrum usage charge, caused an undue benefit of Rs 8.82 billion to telecom operators between 2009 and 2014.
