'Spectrum allocation will be transparent': Sibal

The minister who met the industry honchos here to take their views on various issues, including the allocation of spectrum, is said to have discussed with them the current scenario in the sector.

The minister held a closed door meeting with Sunil Bharti Mittal of Airtel, Anil Ambani of Reliance Communication and Ratan Tata of Tata Teleservices Limited on Tuesday.
Representatives of the remaining telecom majors will meet him in a couple of days.   

It was learnt that telecom operators have expressed concern over the shortage of spectrum and the flip-flop in the government policy and asked the minister to address these issues at the earliest. In this context, the minister pointed towards  corporate rivalry, which he said, would hit the sector’s growth.

The government will not allow any sense of discrimination to prevail and each player will be allowed to play his role and “our policy will be transparent,” Sibal said.

“We should ensure that enough spectrum is available to the industry. If there is enough spectrum, availability will be ensured,” the minister said.  

He said the industrialists were happy as they never had such a discussion with the minister in the past.

The meeting comes at a time when the sector is grappling with enormous uncertainties with regard to spectrum allocation policy and the CBI probe into decisions taken by the telecom ministry between 2001 and 2008. 

Govt hits out at Opposition

The Government on Tuesday hit back at the Opposition dismissing as “total contempt and disrespect for Parliament”, its criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s offer to face the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) going into the 2G spectrum scam, reports PTI from New Delhi.

“After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was ready to face the PAC, what Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said is in total contempt and disrespect for Parliament and of PAC,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said.