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November 27, 2007 17:37 IST
Communications Minister A Raja, who has been facing a lot of flak from GSM-based mobile firms on new spectrum allocation norms, received support from an unlikely quarter on Tuesday -- the former head of GSM lobby and fellow M P Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Once a strong advocate of auctioning spectrum, Chandrasekhar extended his support to the policy of allocating spectrum to all on equitable basis.
In a letter to Communications Minister A Raja, he said that having entered into contracts with a large number of licensees by accepting fees from them, it might be impractical now to introduce auctions for these licensees and applicants.
"I will agree with your view that introducing auctions at this stage may lead to a breach of contract by Department of Telecommunication and consequential litigations, both of which are not desirable outcomes," he said.
Raja has ruled out auctioning of radio frequencies for 2G or second generation mobile services, saying it would create an imbalance between existing players and new applicants. Chandrasekhar, who is also a member of Standing Committee of Parliament on IT, was one of early entrants in the telecom sector and recently sold his mobile firm BPL to Essar group.
He is also a former chairman of Cellular Operators Association of India, the lobby of GSM players such as Bharti Airtel [Get Quote]. His views assume significance as the telecom industry is sharply divided between GSM and CDMA players over spectrum allocation.
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