BSNL has received one of the BWA (WiMax) licenses before the private sector did. Being a state-owned enterprise was its only qualifying criteria for this license. Later it paid the same price the Indian government has forked from auctioning more licenses. BSNL has predictably failed to make money out of the BWA license that landed on its lap. It demanded the refund of US$ 1.6 billion license fees in exchange of surrendering the BWA license. The government has “provisionally agreed” and BSNL will get the license fees back.
India’s 2G scam is all about how much money the government could have made if the spectrum was “prudently” assigned. BSNL’s exit with US$ 1.6 billion refund lacks very prudence the Comptroller and Auditor General have “discovered” in the 2G issues. The CAG would truly fulfill its constitutional obligation if it computes the fiscal opportunity BSNL has wasted in BWA. Those who have awarded this license and those who are contemplating its surrender, with refund, are hardly any different than the officials being investigated in 2G scandal. Both the camp have caused fiscal damage to the exchequer. Isn’t it?
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Abu Saeed Khan
Telecom Ministry may auction BSNL’s BWA spectrum. Here is the link.