Yashwant Sinha's charges on TRAI spectrum recommendations baseless: Kapil Sibal

NEW DELHI: Telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday termed as “wild and baseless” BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha’s supposition that another spectrum scam is in the offing.

Last week, Sinha had urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reject the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s ( Trai’s) proposal for steep cut in the reserve price for auction of spectrum. In a letter to Singh on November 9, the BJP leader had said that the government would be giving away precious airwaves at a throw away price if it accepted the proposal.

“Yashwant Sinha smells a scam around the corner at every stage. Previously, I remember BJP targeted the government saying that Trai recommendations were not accepted and, therefore, there is a scam,” Sibal told reporters. “Now, if the government were to partially accept Trai’s recommendations, there is a scam.”

Sibal alleged that the BJP leader’s comment was made with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “Previously, they said the process was not followed, there was a scam. Now, when the process is being followed, there is a scam,” Sibal said.

“Yashwant Sinha should tell us how to auction spectrum and at what price, because he seems to be an expert in everything. Yashwant Sinha should think before he makes wild and baseless allegations.”

After failure of two rounds of spectrum auctions, Trai has recommended slashing the reserve price by up to 60%. The regulator is of the view that a cut in pricing will provide a much-needed fillip to the country’s beleaguered telecom sector.

Dismissing the regulator’s argument, Sinha’s letter alleged that the auctions had failed due to cartelisation by operators, and not because the price of spectrum was prohibitively expensive.

Trai’s recommendation for price cuts were deliberated upon by the Telecom Commission, the telecom department’s highest decisionmaking body, which then decided to increase the price of spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band by 15% and in the 900 MHz band by 25% of the recommended prices.