Pranab pushed for spectrum norm change

Barely a fortnight before the department of telecommunications (DoT) issued letters of intent on January 10, 2008 to telecom operators allegedly on arbitrary grounds, Pranab Mukherjee, then external affairs minister, made a strong pitch for transparent allocation of spectrum. HT reports.

Barely a fortnight before the department of telecommunications (DoT) issued letters of intent on January 10, 2008 to telecom operators allegedly on arbitrary grounds, Pranab Mukherjee, then external affairs minister, made a strong pitch for transparent allocation of spectrum.

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In a top secret note to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 26, 2007, Mukherjee said it was "essential for DoT to issue the new norms immediately so that the spectrum allocation is done in a transparent manner.

"While it is the prerogative of the government to frame, revise and change the policy, it is also the responsibility of the government to do so in a transparent manner," the note said.