'NDA's telecom policy cost country Rs 43500 cr'

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The nation has suffered a loss of over Rs.43,500 crore because of a change in India's policy in 1999 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power, Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) chairman P.C. Chacko said on Thursday.

Chacko, a veteran Congress MP, after a meeting of the multi-party panel examining India's telecom policy from 1998 to 2008 against the backdrop of the 2G scam, told reporters that the committee was informed by the Department of Telecom (DoT) that the exchequer lost over Rs.43,523.92 crore in 1999.

The "huge financial implications" were due to the concession offered to telecom operators in the wake of migration policy pursued in 1999, Chacko said.

"This is a tentative figure because we have asked the DoT to recalculate as many aspects due to the implementation of migration package were not included," Chacko said.

The migration policy allowed telecom operators to shift from fixed license fee regime to the revenue-sharing model.

He said the Finance Ministry had objected to the scheme and suggested that "there should be a provision of auction of spectrum in areas where demand exceeds the supply".

"But that was not accepted by the DoT then," he said.

Finance Ministry objected

The Finance Ministry also objected to allowing across the board extension of licences in 1999.

"Allowing free extension of the licences from 10 years to 20 years in cellular service and 15 to 20 years in basic service was not agreed by the ministry of finance," he said

BJP's Yashwant Sinha, who is one of the members of the panel, was the finance minister in 1999 and the telecom portfolio was held by Ram Vilas Paswan, who succeeded Jagmohan.