Telecom industry bodies, COAI and AUSPI, have written to the Department of Telecommunications, saying any waiver either on the one-time licence fee or refund of BWA spectrum payment given to state-run service operators, BSNL and MTNL, would be unfair to private operators.
In a letter to telecom minister Kapil Sibal, they said in case two operators are exempted from paying the one-time spectrum fee and are allowed to surrender the broadband wireless spectrum in selective circles for a refund, it would be in violation of the Notice Inviting Applications, the legally binding document to the auctions under which the 3G and the BWA spectrum was sold.
The telecom bodies said rather than giving BSNL and MTNL a waiver on the one-time fee, the two operators can surrender the extra spectrum that they don?t need to service their customer base.