The Empowered Group of Minister on telecom headed by finance minister P Chidambaram did not agree with the Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia who had written to the former saying that mobile phone companies should not be charged for airwaves up to the 6.2-MHz limit, reports ET.

The argument of Ahluwalia was that levying one-time fee at this juncture would amount to unilaterally rewriting the contract as telcos have invested and made market strategy on the contracted spectrum, the report said.

The Empowered Group of Minister (EGoM) headed by the Finance Minister P Chidambaram is believed to have recommended that the existing operators would be charged one time spectrum fee prospectively, meaning for the years of validity remaining on the spectrum they hold.
 
General G.E. Vahanvati had suggested that a one-time fee be levied, retrospectively from July 2008, on spectrum allotted to telecom companies beyond 6.2 MHz. The one-time fee will be applicable from the date of the cabinet decision.

"On the balance of considerations, I feel we should respect the sanctity of contract and stick to the position that if investors were given spectrum, on a particular pricing method and for a particular period, and the bona fides of that allocations is not being questioned, we should not change the rules midstream," ET had quoted Montek Singh Ahluwalia as saying.