The brand new National Telecom Policy 2011 (NTP 2011) proposed with a lot of fan fare has the same objective as earlier such policies – NTP 1994 and NTP 1999 – how to create new scams or justify existing ones.Sibal, while paying lip service to various other policy objectives such as teledensity, self-reliance, etc., makes clear that this policy is primarily to help “.. ensuring continued viability of (private) service providers in a competitive environment.” Too many licenses have been given with not enough spectrum and not enough money for putting in infrastructure. Now the challenge is how to allow the existing license holders to either sell their licenses or provide services without building the necessary infrastructure.

The more things change, more they remain the same in Telecom. Even after the massive 2G scam that has rocked the country, more of the same are in the offing. In 3G, various parties are now violating their license terms and conditions by offering services in service areas where they do not have licenses. And true to form, DoT continues to wink at such violations despite various organisations including BSNL's unions having brought this to their notice.