New Delhi:
At a time when the telecom sector is in complete upheaval because of the 2G spectrum scam, the new Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal today reached out to the big telecom players to discuss the issues plaguing the sector.
The meeting was attended by the big industry players - Ratan Tata, Anil Ambani and Sunil Mittal.
After that, speaking exclusively to NDTV's Barkha Dutt, Sibal said he promised them transparency and fair play.
The Telecom Minister also said, there was more spectrum which the government can make available, and explained just what led to the start of this corporate war.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
Kapil Sibal: If you have decisions taken from time to time at the level of the executives, which gives the impression of being discriminatory, if you are not open when government is functioning, then obviously people will make allegations. Those who lose out will start making allegations against those who gain, and then it is the beginning of a corporate war, and this shouldn't happen.
Barkha Dutt: What did you say to these three men: Ratan Tata, Anil Ambani and Sunil Mittal, to assure the industry that the kind of discrimination that the CAG report has spoken about in the past will not happen again?
Kapil Sibal: First of all, I don't want to comment on the CAG report. It is an opinion based on facts. Some parts of it I may agree with, some parts of it I may not agree with. What is really important for me to convey to the industry is that this government will not allow any sense of discrimination. Each player will be dealt with fairly, and our policies are transparent and will happen through a dialogue and evolve through a dialogue and they are very happy with that because they haven't been called and they haven't had this kind of a dialogue with the minister in the past.
Barkha Dutt: What are some of the apprehensions that they shared?
Kapil Sibal: Well, basically you know, spectrum like water, like minerals is a limited resource. When you have a limited resource and you have a lot of people wanting that resource, then those who get more justify as to why they got more, and those who get less say they have been treated badly. So the issue is we must ensure that enough spectrum is available as a matter of policy, we must ensure that enough spectrum is available to serve the industry. That's I think the core issue. A lot of spectrum is available, but we have not made it available. We need some policy interventions so we can make it available. So if you have enough spectrum then almost the entire problem is solved. Now if you have spectrum, how do you allocate spectrum? That's again a matter of fairness and transparency in implementation. We must ensure that.