The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has sought information from the Telecom Ministry on the recent spectrum auctions. The move comes against the backdrop of reports and allegations that cartelization among players during the spectrum auctions led to tepid response.
Recently, in a letter to Telecom Ministry the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had said that the tepid response to the spectrum auction looked like a case of cartelization and it accused the Telecom Ministry of watching it happening as mute spectator.
CCI Chairman Ashok Chawla said the regulator has written to the Telecom Ministry on the issue.
Chawla, however, said that CCI has not been asked to look into it officially. “I don’t think we have received anything yet... It (communication) was on the basis of what appeared in the media that the process of auction was anti-competitive. That’s what appeared in the public domain,” he clarified.
He said that CCI is trying to understand whether it was actually anti competitive or not in terms of the factual position.
In November, 2012 and March, 2013, the government had put on auction more than half of the spectrum that was freed after the Supreme Court in February last year cancelled 122 mobile permits issued by the then Telecom Minister A Raja to nine telecom companies in 2008.
The auctions got tepid response from operators and fetched the Government a fraction of the amount that was projected. Meanwhile, to another query on alleged cartelization by oil marketing companies in fixing petrol prices, Chawla said the matter is being investigated by the Commission.