No provision to refund entry fee for 2G spectrum, says A. Raja

Chennai, July 11(ANI): Union Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja has said that no provisions have been given to operators for the refund of 2G (second generation) spectrum entry fee.

Raja also said that the matter would be discussed in a meeting with the Telecom Commission.

"When we took the operators meeting, a ... was mapped by some of the new operator that they were not able to roll off. Some other reason...loan to them. They wanted to have the entry fee refunded. There is no provision as such but it will be discussed in the Telecom Commission," Raja said while addressing the media at an event in Chennai on Saturday.

He also said that the lock-in period for 2G already exists, and is applicable for all the operators.

"Generally, license condition is not withstanding whether it is 2G or 3G (third generation) or the BWD (Bandwidth). I already made the provisions in the license condition that there should be a lock-in period. It was done. It will be sparely applicable to the BWD also," Raja added.

Earlier this month, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had called for carriers to pay a one-time fee for high-bandwidth 2G radio-spectrum.

Recently, many companies bought third-generation spectrum in an auction where bidding exceeded everyone's expectations.

The regulator's proposals drew howls of protest from carriers, with market leader Bharti Airtel calling them "shocking, arbitrary and retrograde" and urging the government to reject them. (ANI)