The new DoT secretary, Siddhartha Behura has a difficult job ahead of him. The first task that confronts him is putting his signature on 22 files for issuance of LoI's under the first-come-first-served policy of spectrum allocation for new entrants who applied for UAS licences (2G spectrum) before September 25, 2007.
According to DoT sources, his predecessor, D S Mathur was to sign these files on December 31, 2007 - his last day in office. However, for reasons that remain unknown, Mathur did not sign these files.
The matter of issuing LoI's to new entrants who applied before September 25is one of the biggest controversies facing the telecom sector. This is because September 25 is seen as an arbitrary cut off, since this was the day when government had announced October 1 as the deadline for receiving applications. Worse, the criteria to decide the inter se priority for LoI's still remains a mystery.
While senior DoT officials indicate that the date of deposit of licence fees is to become the criteria for deciding inter se priority among new applicants for spectrum allocation, others in the queue like Idea, Spice, HFCL and Parvsnath will bitterly oppose this. These companies want the inter se priority to be decided based on date of application, since they have applications pending for nearly 18 months or more.
Both Idea and Spice have warned the DoT of serious legal repercussions if their position in the inter se priority is manipulated by changing the criteria. Meanwhile, others in the queue remain equally confident of getting precious 2G spectrum even though they applied as late as September 2007.
Without doubt, any decision of the DoT will face serious legal challenges from existing operators. A second source of legal challenge is likely to be the 24 companies that applied after September 25 and are now out in the cold.
Telecom minister A Raja indicated his decision to make September 25 the cutoff date, in a letter written to the PM on October 2, 2007. The department subsequently sought 25 additional clarifications through a 9-page letter written to each of the 22 companies that applied before September 25. This divides the field of new applicants into 22 companies that qualify and another 24 who are disqualified.
It is also well known that there is serious opposition to Raja's plans to give away valuable, scarce spectrum at a throwaway price of Rs 1,651 crore despite an offer of over Rs 13,000 crore for pan-India GSM spectrum already pending with the government from one applicant.
If Behura agrees to sign these files, then Raja's signature is needed before LoIs are issued. This creates the 'cause of action' needed to trigger the imminent legal battle.
According to DoT sources, his predecessor, D S Mathur was to sign these files on December 31, 2007 - his last day in office. However, for reasons that remain unknown, Mathur did not sign these files.
The matter of issuing LoI's to new entrants who applied before September 25is one of the biggest controversies facing the telecom sector. This is because September 25 is seen as an arbitrary cut off, since this was the day when government had announced October 1 as the deadline for receiving applications. Worse, the criteria to decide the inter se priority for LoI's still remains a mystery.
While senior DoT officials indicate that the date of deposit of licence fees is to become the criteria for deciding inter se priority among new applicants for spectrum allocation, others in the queue like Idea, Spice, HFCL and Parvsnath will bitterly oppose this. These companies want the inter se priority to be decided based on date of application, since they have applications pending for nearly 18 months or more.
Both Idea and Spice have warned the DoT of serious legal repercussions if their position in the inter se priority is manipulated by changing the criteria. Meanwhile, others in the queue remain equally confident of getting precious 2G spectrum even though they applied as late as September 2007.
Without doubt, any decision of the DoT will face serious legal challenges from existing operators. A second source of legal challenge is likely to be the 24 companies that applied after September 25 and are now out in the cold.
Telecom minister A Raja indicated his decision to make September 25 the cutoff date, in a letter written to the PM on October 2, 2007. The department subsequently sought 25 additional clarifications through a 9-page letter written to each of the 22 companies that applied before September 25. This divides the field of new applicants into 22 companies that qualify and another 24 who are disqualified.
It is also well known that there is serious opposition to Raja's plans to give away valuable, scarce spectrum at a throwaway price of Rs 1,651 crore despite an offer of over Rs 13,000 crore for pan-India GSM spectrum already pending with the government from one applicant.
If Behura agrees to sign these files, then Raja's signature is needed before LoIs are issued. This creates the 'cause of action' needed to trigger the imminent legal battle.