CAG has no jurisdiction to question Trai norms, says DoT - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General's allegation that telecom companies formed cartels in the recent 2G spectrum auctions, and its accusation that the government "wittingly or unwittingly aided and abetted" mobile phone companies by not acting against them, is set to trigger a fresh war between the auditor and the department of telecom (DoT). The DoT is of the view that the national auditor has no jurisdiction to raise questions on the quality standards enforced by sector regulator Trai. Besides, the DoT in a May 24 internal note, that was reviewed by ET, has also said that while the CAG has been critical of Trai, and in turn had also passed on that blame to the government, the national auditor failed to take note of the fact that the Trai Act prevents the department from interfering in the functions of the regulator. The department has also said that CAG's comments indicate that the auditor does not understand the "basic engineering principles of traffic handling capacity of Base Transciever Stations (telecom towers) and availability of allotted spectrum amongst other issues". The CAG had based its charges of 'cartelisation' on the fact that mobile phone companies had been demanding additional spectrum for years and had repeatedly said supplementary airwaves were necessary to meet the Trai-prescribed service-quality standards. The national auditor argued that telcos after clamouring for spectrum, had negated their positions by failing to take part in the auctions. The CAG said that incumbent mobile phone companies were catering to several times their earlier subscribers despite not getting any additional airwaves for several years, and had also questioned the credibility of the customer numbers reported by the mobile phone companies and also the authenticity of the quality of service audits undertaken by Trai. The national auditor had said that if the government had enforced prescribed quality standards for mobile services set by the telecom department and Trai, it could have forced mobile phone companies to buy airwaves in the recent auctions. The government's failure to act had emboldened telcos to demand further reduction in the base price in future auctions, the CAG had added in its April 9 communication to the DoT. The CAG in the same communication to the DoT added that cartelisation by telcos in the last two auctions had resulted in spectrum valued at thousands of crores being wasted. It also contended that the failed auctions had led to the government losing out on funds. The DoT's May 24 note states that the national auditor had adversely commented upon Trai with regard to the quality of services as well as allocation of spectrum to service providers to maintain service quality, and has also decided to seek Trai's views on these issues. Copyright © 2013 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHvKA7CiP-GAaf-BM3LFPzzSBJM9g&url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/CAG-has-no-jurisdiction-to-question-Trai-norms-says-DoT/articleshow/20358975.cms

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