<p>According to sources in the know, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has submitted the report to the finance ministry and the President. The report may be laid in Parliament in the winter session beginning tomorrow.<br /><br />The details were not immediately available, but sources said that it has estimated a revenue loss of Rs 1,76,700 crore to the government due to arbitrary policies like non-auction of 2G spectrum followed by Telecom Minister A Raja. The telecom ministry had, however, hit at the CAG saying the policy decisions cannot be "assailed" as arbitrary and debunked CAG's assertion that 2G spectrum was allocated in an arbitrary manner.<br /><br />"Decisions (on spectrum) taken on the basis of New Telecom Policy of 1999 and the Cabinet decision of 2003, coupled with periodic and respective TRAI's recommendations.<br /><br />"(This) cannot be assailed by the audit as arbitrary or cause of exchequer loss until and unless the entire policy devised with legislative backing is changed or modified by the same authorities concerned," DoT had said in its reply to the Comptroller and Auditor General.<br /><br />CAG has reportedly put the revenue loss to exchequer at up to Rs 1.40 lakh crore in addition to another Rs 36,700 crore on allocation of spectrum beyond contractual limit to existing nine operators. In 2008, the DoT had issued 2G spectrum to eight new operators at Rs 1,658 crore for pan-India operations.<br /><br />The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asserted that there was no loss to the exchequer due to distribution of new licences in 2008. "There was no loss of any potential revenue due to non-revision of entry fee for award of licences and non- auction of 2G spectrum, rather the said policy of grant of licences was not changed since introduction because this has resulted in unprecedented growth of telecom services," DoT has said.<br /><br />In conformity with the established procedures and rules as well as the provisions enshrined in Unified Access Services Licence (UASL) guidelines and NTP'99, the policies were only implemented by the present Minister of Communications and IT which resulted in tangible, exponential and unprecedented growth in the sector with high teledensity and lower tariffs, the DoT had said.<br /><br />With the increase in teledensity and increase in overall revenue of the sector, the annual licence fee and spectrum charges payable as revenue share to the government is increasing year after year and so far the government has collected about Rs 77,938 crore till March 2010 as licence and spectrum fee.</p>
<p>According to sources in the know, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has submitted the report to the finance ministry and the President. The report may be laid in Parliament in the winter session beginning tomorrow.<br /><br />The details were not immediately available, but sources said that it has estimated a revenue loss of Rs 1,76,700 crore to the government due to arbitrary policies like non-auction of 2G spectrum followed by Telecom Minister A Raja. The telecom ministry had, however, hit at the CAG saying the policy decisions cannot be "assailed" as arbitrary and debunked CAG's assertion that 2G spectrum was allocated in an arbitrary manner.<br /><br />"Decisions (on spectrum) taken on the basis of New Telecom Policy of 1999 and the Cabinet decision of 2003, coupled with periodic and respective TRAI's recommendations.<br /><br />"(This) cannot be assailed by the audit as arbitrary or cause of exchequer loss until and unless the entire policy devised with legislative backing is changed or modified by the same authorities concerned," DoT had said in its reply to the Comptroller and Auditor General.<br /><br />CAG has reportedly put the revenue loss to exchequer at up to Rs 1.40 lakh crore in addition to another Rs 36,700 crore on allocation of spectrum beyond contractual limit to existing nine operators. In 2008, the DoT had issued 2G spectrum to eight new operators at Rs 1,658 crore for pan-India operations.<br /><br />The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asserted that there was no loss to the exchequer due to distribution of new licences in 2008. "There was no loss of any potential revenue due to non-revision of entry fee for award of licences and non- auction of 2G spectrum, rather the said policy of grant of licences was not changed since introduction because this has resulted in unprecedented growth of telecom services," DoT has said.<br /><br />In conformity with the established procedures and rules as well as the provisions enshrined in Unified Access Services Licence (UASL) guidelines and NTP'99, the policies were only implemented by the present Minister of Communications and IT which resulted in tangible, exponential and unprecedented growth in the sector with high teledensity and lower tariffs, the DoT had said.<br /><br />With the increase in teledensity and increase in overall revenue of the sector, the annual licence fee and spectrum charges payable as revenue share to the government is increasing year after year and so far the government has collected about Rs 77,938 crore till March 2010 as licence and spectrum fee.</p>