New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation Thursday conducted searches in the offices of the telecom ministry to probe the alleged “criminal conspiracy” between some officials and private companies in giving wireless radio spectrum to telecommunication firms.
“It has been alleged that there had been serious irregularities in the award of Unified Excess Services Licences to private companies,” a CBI spokesperson said.

“As per information received, there was a criminal conspiracy between certain officials of Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and private persons/companies and others to award licences to these companies,” the spokesperson said.

He said the officials had put a cap on the number of applicants against recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and “awarded licences to private companies on first come first serve basis on the rates of 2001 without any competitive bidding”.

Telecom firms in India offering second-generation (2G) mobile services get some spectrum to start with after they take a telecom licence. Subsequent allocation is done in slabs linked to the firm’s subscriber numbers.

The agency registered a case Wednesday against unknown telecom officials and private companies.

Searches were conducted by the CBI in the Wireless Planning Cell (WPC) and in the office of deputy director general (access services), Sanchar Bhawan, Ashoka Road in the capital.