All spectrum allocated through auction: IT minister

Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said that every spectrum was allocated through auction during his tenure as telecom minister and will look into the anomalies pointed out by the CAG in spectrum allocation of 2015.

"Every spectrum was allocated through auction," Prasad said on sidelines on an NIC event when asked about the shortcomings found by CAG in 2015 spectrum allocation.

To a question on the CAG reports on microwave access spectrum, Prasad said, "I will look into it".

The CAG in its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday said that a set of Microwave access (MWA) spectrum was allocated to a telecom operator in 2015 on the first-cum-first-service (FCFS) basis in contravention to the recommendations of a committee, while 101 applications for microwave (MW) spectrum were pending with the government.

The national auditor neither mentioned the name of the company to which the microwave spectrum was allocated and nor the loss estimates.

MWA spectrum is allocated to telecom operators for short distances to provide mobile services.