The Indian finance minister has rejected a proposal to refund the Rs 29,598 crore ($6.4 billion) paid by two state-run telecom firms for 3G and broadband wireless access spectrum.
According to unnamed sources at the Business Standard, Pranab Mukherjee has rejected the request by Telecoms Minister A Raja to refund the money paid by state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) for 3G and broadband wireless access spectrum.
He said in a 10 minute conversation between the two that this was because he was concerned that legal complications may arise if the fees were returned to BSNL and MTNL, which are both controlled by the government.
The palaver follow a threat by state-owned BSNL, which is now pushing forward with strike action, following claims that it was forced to pay out Rs 18,500 crore (or US $3,934,158,625) for its 3G and broadband spectrum, earlier this month. BSNL had taken out a loan to make the payment.
It said at the time it wanted a refund from the state as it didn't have the chance to bid and choose its spectrum circles as privately owned companies were - instead it was handed its spectrums, except Delhi and Mumbai, and told that it must match the winning bid.
The government had raised over Rs 1.06 trillion ($22.8 billion) in an auction of 3G and wireless broadband spectrum this year, about 3 times more than expected, following aggressive bidding by firms in the world's fastest growing mobile market.
Raja is now working on an alternative proposal to help BSNL, which is planning an IPO, to recover growing losses from rolling out services in rural areas, the newspaper said.
The three day strike will go ahead on September 21 if the government doesn't refund the 3G broadband money.
They have launched the services after the delay of nearly one year, I was very excited to use my 3G mobile, and I purchased a MTNL sim card, after paying and completing all the formalities they started my services after 45 days, shocked??? Try it yourself, and after that the speed of the net was very very poor, even after complaining to the call center 100 of times they just said wait for some time as the services is new it will take some time, I don’t know why they have started the services if they are not having proper infrastructure, some time the customer care told me that the problem is with my hand set some time they told that the problem is in SIM and some time they told that the construction of tower is not completed yet blaa blaa blaa…. Then I visited to my nearest MTNL sanchar haat, register a complaint with area manager, but nothing happened, then I submit my complaint to the Consumer Court www.consumercourt.in , they told me to send a complaint to the Nodal officer, I did same and received a reply from the Nodal officer that they will refund 100/- in the next billing cycle.
What is the use of 3G service, if you are not able to satisfy your customers, I think 4G is already launched in some countries, and we are using 3GG.