The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) stated yesterday that the allegations made by CDMA service providers that the GSM operators were provided 2G spectrum against norms were false and baseless.

In a letter issued to the media, COAI said that the entire campaign formed by the CDMA operator’s body which is Association of United Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) was dishonest and misleading.

COAI further claimed that AUSPI had done all that as a desperate attempt to pull down a performing industry. AUSPI had also been accused for forming a “serious misinformation campaign.”

“The license terms stated (under clause 23.5 and 43.5) that additional spectrum would be allocated as per guidelines issued by the DoT from time to time and that such allocations would be based on the principles of usage, justification and availability,” stated COAI Director General T V Ramachandran.

He further added that the successive governments and administrations had acted upon the license terms. Other than this, guidelines had been issued from time to time providing for allocation of additional spectrum to GSM operators to meet their growth requirements.