The Joint Parliamentary Committee on telecom has termed the Department of Telecom’s decision in 2007 to allow dual technology as “unusual”.
Under this policy, CDMA operators were permitted to acquire GSM spectrum. This was after the TRAI had recommended that licensee using one technology may be permitted subject to payment of an entry fee.
The Committee noted that on October 18, 2007 ‘in-principle’ approval was granted to the pending applications of three licensees (Reliance Communications Ltd for 20 Service Areas, Shyam Telelink Ltd for Rajasthan Area and HFCL Infotel Ltd for Punjab Service Area) for availing dual technology licences and spectrum.
The Committee observed that granting ‘in-principle’ approval for Dual Technology spectrum even before pronouncement of the policy in public domain, which was done on October 19, 2007, was something unusual.
The report said that the application of Tata Teleservices Ltd, which had applied after the policy announced, was meted out a differential treatment.