Scindia, Ramesh Clash Over Satcom Spectrum Allocation

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) Union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh locked horns over linking spectrum assignment process for satellite companies approved in-principle by the NDA regime with 2G case during the UPA tenure.

Scindia said the country cannot forget the "2G scam" -- a blot on the country's history.

"A scam that not just led to a colossal loss of Rs 1,76,645 crore to the exchequer, but also gave government-corporate collaboration its worst name, a.k.a crony capitalism," he said on X.

The telecom minister said spectrum in the UPA era was allocated via the opaque FCFS (first come, first served) policy, resulting in scams and losses.

"The Modi government prioritises transparency and public interest -- mobile telephony spectrum is now auctioned," Scindia said.

The current regime has decided to approve allocation of spectrum to satellite communication companies without auction through administrative process.

Telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have opposed administrative allocation of spectrum to satcom players where Elon Musk-led Starlink is also in the fray to launch services in India.

Scindia has said satellite spectrum cannot be auctioned due to technical and operational reasons.

The minister has on several occasions said even administrative allocation of spectrum to satcom players will be done at a price recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Scindia was responding to Ramesh's post on X that linked the process of in-principle approval by the current government to that of administrative spectrum allocation process during the UPA regime.

Ramesh said the government has stated on record that "spectrum assigned administratively are also chargeable and hence contribute to revenue" a position contrary to what the Prime Minister has been loudly proclaiming for many years.

"Recall that the BJP reaped huge political dividends from the media frenzy generated by its proxies in the government over the UPA's allocation of 2G spectrum by administrative processes rather than auctions. Fraudulent revenue loss projections and an overactive judiciary ended up doing huge damage to the investment environment in telecoms," he said.

Ramesh said at the end of an exhaustive trial, the CBI court acquitted all the accused, stating in strongest terms that the entire affair was built on "public perception created by rumour, gossip and speculation".

He said the judgement stated that "there is no evidence on the record produced before the court indicating any criminality in the acts allegedly committed by the accused" and that the government's chargesheet was "based mainly on misreading, selective reading, non-reading and out of context reading of the official record".

"This is the reality of the Modi government and its propaganda machine. Of its cronies, for its cronies, and by its cronies," Ramesh said.

Last week, Trinamool Congress MP Jawahar Sircar had also linked the NDA satcom spectrum assignment process with that of the 2G case during the UPA regime.

"This is ROOT OF CORRUPTION -- for which the BJP attacked & felled UPA-2" and "Sent Minister Raja to Jail", he had said.

Scindia had responded to Sircar's comment after which the latter asked steps that the government will take to ensure transparency in the spectrum allocation process, consideration of Supreme Court order on allocation on natural resources and if the move "is it to welcome Musk".