2G-SPECTRUM :: BOOKS

SPECTRUM GRAB

INSIDE STORY OF THE 2G SCAM

This is probably the 'Mother of All Scams'. The 2G scam surpasses all other past fiddles, not just in terms of the money involved but also in the sheer scale of its audacity. It has exposed how deep crony capitalism runs in India and how laws and processes can be subverted with impunity. The scam dragnet has spared no one -- from politicians to businessmen, from lobbyists to even journalists. Spectrum Grab goes into the roots of the 2G affair and reveals how the unscrupulous nexus between government, business and the bureaucracy destroyed the promise of the telecom sector. Spectrum Grab addresses the unanswered questions and conspiracy theories to piece together the story behind one of the biggest scandals of our times.

Paperback	8.5" X 5.5"
Page	230

EVENTS

Spectrum Grab launch in Mumbai

The long awaited book on the 2G scam -- Spectrum Grab -- was launched on 25 September 2012 at the Kemps Corner outlet of Crossword in Mumbai. The book was launched by fashion designer and BJP party member Shaina NC. She also took part in a moderated discussion with the author, Bhupesh Bhandari on whether India was becoming a country of scams. The book is a detailed and thorough account of the telecom scandal that that nearly toppled the Indian government. The scam made corruption a national issue and sent a Union Minister, a chief minister's daughter, bureaucrats and several businessmen to jail. Spectrum Grab follows the question trail and tracks just how the words 2G and scam got permanently and irrevocably inked together. The book is the first objective account of the scam that has become a national shame.

Spectrum Grab launch in Mumbai

PHOTOGALLERY

Fashion designer Shaina NC and Author Bhupesh Bhandari at the launch of Spectrum Grab
About Author

Bhupesh Bhandri Senior Associate Editor
Business Standard - New Delhi

Bhupesh Bhandari is currently Associate Editor of the newspaper and is based in New Delhi. He writes on the corporate sector and about the economy. He has covered the telecom scam in great detail and written about it in his fortnightly column on corporate affairs, White Knight that appears every Friday.
Bhupesh is a published author and has written The Ranbaxy Story (Penguin 2005) and co-authored The Satyam Saga (Business Standard Books 2009).

About Spectrum Grab

The first objective and complete book on the 2G scam, Spectrum Grab is an engaging account of the scandal that has rocked the Indian government and shocked its people. Written by veteran journalist Bhupesh Bhandari, the book covers the scam that sent several politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats to jail in great detail. It delves into the controversies and wades through the confusing - sometimes deliberate - world of government doublespeak to expose the mess that lies at the heart of the telecom scandal.
The second generation -- more popularly 2G -- telecom scam, ever since it broke out into the open, has held the attention of the nation. The impunity with which laws were subverted, in the open and without fear of retribution, has corroded public trust in politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats and even media.

How can we ever forget the face of a smiling A Raja claiming that the 2G scam was a figment of the media's imagination? Can we ignore the role of the media, which was shown to be working hand-in-glove with the very people it was reporting about? Even the notoriously short public memory cannot afford to let the scam slip out of its grasp?
Spectrum grab digs up the story of the scam and creates a picture that the reader will never be able to forget. It goes down the trail of unanswered questions that the scam gave rise to. Can one ever put a figure to the loss - notional and real? Who and how many should be held responsible? And can telecom, one of the early beneficiaries of economic reform, ever shake itself free from the shadow of its wheeler-dealers?
Spectrum Grab tracks these issues with dogged journalistic zeal. Written simply, the book is an easy read and it helps understand how the words 2G and scam were permanently and irrevocably inked together.
This book is for:
* All readers interested in current affairs
* All readers tracking the Indian telecom sector
The Scramble for Spectrum, Chapter 1

...The gates to the Reception Room were thrown open at 3:45 pm. One representative was allowed at a time; the next in the queue could go in only after the first had completed all formalities. But instead of imposing order into the process, it bred chaos. The rich and powerful behaved no better than goons, pushing and shoving each other to get ahead. Some were accompanied by bouncers who helped them get past others in the queue. Mahendra Nahata of HFCL, whose application for new licences had been found invalid by DoT, was roughed up by security personnel. 'Nahata of HFCL had entered the reception area without any letter of intent or any document, and was trying to hinder the smooth functioning of the process and was also indulging in a scuffle with other representatives in the queue with valid documents,' Kumar said. 'Accordingly, in order to maintain smooth functioning and transparency, he was escorted out of Sanchar Bhawan with the help of CISF [Central Industrial Security Force] personnel on duty.' An agitated Nahata said he would lodge a complaint on the ill treatment meted to him. Soon the queue grew restless. 'I saw the representatives getting into a scuffle and using force in order to manage their entry and jump the queue for depositing the documents in the receipt counters in the reception,' said S E Rizvi, then an under-secretary in DoT, who was in charge of affairs inside the Reception Room.7 As the crowd outside grew restive, it was decided to let representatives of other companies also go inside. 'There was a rush and hue and cry of the people outside; then we decided to allow representatives of more than one company to enter the Reception Room and deposit their documents,' Kumar said.8 In his view, 'this was done to facilitate quick receipt of documents in a smooth manner as there was a crowd collecting outside.' Chandolia and some other senior DoT officers were watching the proceedings from the parking lot opposite the reception area. At 5:30 pm, the gates were closed. By then, most of the applicants had submitted their documents, including bank guarantees.

The Scramble for Spectrum, Chapter 1

Those who could not deposit the money did so the next day before banking hours. The scene at Sanchar Bhawan has been described in great detail by Rakesh Mehrotra, the then chief corporate regulatory officer of Tata Teleservices. The company had to collect letters of intent for circles it had applied for under the crossover programme. He had been asked by Anand Sood, then president (corporate affairs) of Tata Teleservices, to go to Sanchar Bhawan between 11:30 am and 12:00 noon.
He was to be accompanied by Anand Dalal, a general manager with the company, to collect the letters of intent and submit the requisite forms and cheques (licence fees, bank guarantee, etc.). The two reached the Committee Room at 3:30 pm. 'There were about 10 to 15 persons and I was offered a "pre-defined" chair. Then we signed on the attendance sheet. There were senior DoT officers along with other staff present in the Committee Room to manage the process of signing the letters of intent. On the central oval big table there were three to four stations for signing the letters of intent... As I remember, the representatives of the other com panies were rushing to the ground floor for completing the other formalities for the licence. Soon after signing the documents, Dalal and I rushed to the reception at the ground floor for submission of bank guarantees and other documents. At the gate near the reception, I found a lot of media crew and others watching the rush... there was a big crowd and it was difficult to enter. As I remember, there was no proper queue. There were a number of persons standing at the gate who were not related to the process and were creating hindrances. There were four counters and some of the representatives of different companies were already depositing their documents.'

Mehrotra was clearly not used to the chaos. 'Soon after entering the reception hall I found there was one neta ji-type person standing in the reception hall and trying to thrust [sic] who had come first. I expressed my resentment directly to the neta ji, questioning the reasons for his interference. I do not know who he was but later on somebody told me that he was a Member of Parliament.' And he was exasperated. 'The entire process of signing of letters of intent and submission of documents was not properly managed; it could have been managed in a more professional way.' It could have, but professionalism was the first but not the only casualty in the race to sell spectrum...

Mile Posts of the 2G Scam

NDA Era

UPA ERA: THE MARAN YEARS

UPA ERA: THE RAJA YEARS

AFTER THE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT

NDA Era
Year	Date	Event
1999		New Telecom Policy approved by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance allows telecom operators to migrate from a fixed licence fee regime to a revenue sharing model and doubles the term of a telecom license to 20 years.
		Telecommunication Tariff Order (TTO) 1999, issued by TRAI, introduces tariff balancing to bring them closer to costs. Tariffs fall with the introduction of facilities such as Calling Party Pay, reduction in access deficit charges (ADC) and increased competition.
	10 Aug	Delhi High Court (HC) rules on a public interest litigation against the migration package, asks Cabinet to relook at the policy.
	21 Oct	Cabinet endorses earlier decision.
2001	25 Jan	Telecom Minister Ram Vilas Paswan offers 5MHz on a first-come, first-served basis for fixed telephony licensees.
	Aug	Pramod Mahajan becomes telecom minister.
	do	Mahajan accepts Department of Telecom (DoT) proposal to allow fixed telephony licensees to offer mobile services.
	21 Nov	Technical committee, under DoT, says Mumbai and Delhi to get extra 2MHz.
2002	10 Jan	Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh writes to Mahajan about additional 2MHz for Mumbai and Delhi.
	31 Jan	DoT proposes that operators will get extra 1.8MHz when subscriber base crosses 400,000 mark; adjusted gross revenue for government to be 2% for 4.4MHz and 3% for the next 1.8MHz. Proposal approved by Mahajan.
2002	1 April	Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) set up. An administrator is appointed for this purpose.
2002	12 Jul	BPL�s Rajeev Chandrasekhar, also chairman of COAI, writes to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee not to allow fixed telephony service providers to offer mobile telephony service. Letter signed by seven cellular operators, Ratan Tata refuses to sign.
	16 Jul	Tata replies to Chandrasekhar explaining he did not sign the letter because it would block the introduction of new technology in the sector.
2003	29 Jan	Mahajan dropped from Cabinet, Arun Shourie becomes telecom minister.
	Nov	Unified access license regime introduced. Services operators now free to provide services covering collection, carriage, transmission and delivery of voice and/or non-voice messages by deploying circuit, and/or packet switched equipment.
	Dec	Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 gives statutory status to USOF passed by both Houses of Parliament. Action initiated to bring mobile services within ambit of USOF activities, under which 7,387 mobile infrastructure sites to be rolled out in Phase I across 500 districts and 27 states to provide mobile services to approximately 0.2 million villages.

UPA ERA: THE MARAN YEARS
Year	Date	Event
2004		India agrees under GATS to review opening up of international telephony services in 2004. Although the sector was thrown open in April 2002, the government decided to remove the limit on the number of service providers after the review. Under current roll-out obligations, an International Long Distance (ILD) licensee has to fulfil the minimum network roll-out obligation of installing at least one gateway switch with appropriate interconnections to at least one National Long Distance (NLD) service licensee.
2004	Oct	Government announces Broadband Policy, with emphasis on creation of infrastructure that can contribute to the growth of broadband services. Prime considerations are affordability and reliability of broadband services, incentives for creation of additional infrastructure, employment opportunities, introduction of latest technologies, national security and creation of a competitive environment to reduce regulatory interventions. Service providers are allowed to enter into franchisee agreements with cable TV network operators.
	do	28 new universal licences issued.
2004-05	do	C Sivasankaran's (Siva) Dishnet Aircel's application for licences stalled.
2005	do	DoT issues guidelines for universal licence, to be given on a first-come, first-served basis.
	Dec	Siva announces company.
2006	22May	Dishnet Aircel files a fresh set of documents for its application for licences.
	30 Oct	Ordinance promulgated as Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Ordinance, 2006 to amend Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 to provide support for mobile services, broadband connectivity, general infrastructure and pilot projects for new technological developments in rural and remote areas of the country.
	1 Nov	Dishnet Aircel, under Maxis, gets letters of intent for 6 circles.
2007	Feb	In its pre-Budget memorandum, COAI seeks: * Tax holiday for mergers and amalgamations of telecom companies * Extension of tax holiday for services started on or before 31 March 2010 (against existing date of 31 March 2005) * Clarity on MAT credit in case of mergers and amalgamations in the sector

UPA ERA: THE RAJA YEARS
Year	Date	Event
2007		A Raja takes over as telecom minister.
	25 Sep	Telecom Ministry press note fixes 1 October 2007 as cut-off date for receipt of applications for 2G spectrum.
	1 Oct	DoT receives 575 applications for universal access service licences from 46 companies.
	2 Nov	Manmohan Singh writes to Raja, expressing concern over spectrum allotment and fee calculation. Raja dismisses fears and sets aside recommendations.
	22 Nov	Finance Ministry writes to DoT asking for review of allotment procedure. Demand for review rejected.
2008	10 Jan	1:47 pm: DoT brings forward the cut-off date for licences to 25 September from 1 October 2007. All eligible applicants to be given licences.
	do	2:45 pm: DoT issues fresh press note; all applicants asked to come between 3:30 and 4:30 pm to collect letters of intent. Applicants for both fresh and crossover licences to be issued letters.
	1 Aug	Broad policy guidelines for 3G & BWA (broadband wireless service) are issued and allotment of spectrum planned through e-auction by a specia-lised agency. New players would be able to bid, thus leading to techno-logy innovation, more competition, faster roll out and ultimately greater choice for customers at competitive tariffs. 3G supports additional value added services such as high resolution video and multimedia services in addition to voice, fax and conventional data services with high data rate transmission capabilities. BWA would be the predominant platform for broadband roll out services, as well as an effective tool for undertaking social initiatives such as e-education, telemedicine, e-health and e-governance.
2008	Oct	Unitech Wireless, one of the licensees, sells 67.25% stake to Telenor, Norway, for '6,120 crore.
	29 Nov	Subramanian Swamy of Janata Party writes to Prime Minister Singh seeking sanction to prosecute A Raja under Prevention of Corruption Act.
	Dec	Swan Telecom, another licensee, sells 45% stake to Etisalat, UAE, for '3,217 crore.
	11 Dec	Prime Minister launches MTNL's 3G mobile services at the inaugural function of India Telecom 2008.
2009	22 Feb	BSNL launches its countrywide 3G services from Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
	Mar	Peak NLD tariff for above 1,000 km comes down from $0.67 per minute in 2000 to $0.02 per minute in 2009. * ILD tariff comes down from $1.36 per minute in 2000 to $ 0.16 per minute in 2009 for USA, Canada & UK. * Mobile tariff for local calls reduces from $ 0.36 per minute in 1999 to $ 0.009-0.04 per minute in 2009. * Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is $
	4 May	Telecom Watchdog, an NGO, complains to CVC P J Thomas about illegality of spectrum sale to Loop Telecom.
	19May	Arun Agarwal complains to CVC about grant of spectrum to Swan Telecom at throwaway prices.
		CVC asks CBI to look into the allocation of 2G spectrum.
	21 Oct	CBI registers a case and files an FIR against 'unknown officers of DoT and unknown private persons/companies'.
	22 Oct	Income Tax (IT) Department raids DoT offices.
2010	Mar	Rank in world in network size 3
		Tele-density (per hundred populations) 52.74
		Telephone connection (In million)
		Fixed 36.95
		Mobile 548.32
		Total 621.28
		Village public telephones inhabited (out of 5,93,601 uncovered villages) 5,69,385
		Foreign Direct Investment (in million $) (April 2000-March 2010) 4,070
		Licenses issued
		Basic 2
		CMTS 38
		UAS 241
		Infrastructure Provider I 219
		ISP (Internet) 371
		National Long distance 29
		International Long Distance 24
	6 May	Telephone conversations between Raja and Niira Radia leaked to media.
	25 May	Delhi HC dismisses petition by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking investigation of telecom scam by SIT.
	30 Jun	As on 30th June 2010, 7183 shared towers have been set up under the First Phase of the scheme. The USOF of DOT has proposed to set up about 10,128 additional towers in order to extend the mobile coverage in other uncovered areas under the Second Phase of the Scheme.
	Aug	Appeal filed in the Supreme Court (SC) against HC's order.
2010	13 Sep	SC asks government, Raja, to reply within 10 days to three petitions filed by CPIL and others.
	24 Sep	Swamy moves SC seeking direction to PM to sanction Raja's prosecution.
	27 Sep	IT Department informs SC of probe against firms suspected to have violated FEMA. Says cannot deny or confirm Raja's involvement in the scam.
	21 Oct	Draft reports of CAG placed before SC.
	29 Oct	SC pulls up CBI for delays in responding to the allegations.
	10 Nov	CAG submits report on 2G spectrum to government.
	11 Nov	DoT files affidavit in SC saying CAG did not have authority to question the policy decision according to which licence had been issued to new players in 2008.
	14 Nov	A Raja resigns as telecom minister. Kapil Sibal given additional charge of Telecom Ministry.
	20 Nov	Affidavit on behalf of PM filed in SC. Rejects charge of inaction on Swamy's complaint.
	Nov	CBI tells SC it will file charge sheet in the case within three months.
	Nov	CBI files status report on 2G spectrum scam probe.
	1 Dec	SC directs original tapes containing conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others be handed over to it.
	do	Raja questions CAG findings in SC.
	2 Dec	Government places recorded tapes in SC.
	do	SC comes down heavily on Raja for bypassing and overruling PM's advice to defer allocation of 2G spectrum by a few days.
	Dec	SC favours including the period since 2001 in the probe, when first-come, first-serve was the norm for spectrum allocation.
	14 Dec	Another PIL in SC seeking cancellation of new telecom licences and 2G spectrum allocated during Raja's tenure.
	15 Dec	Swamy files petition in a Delhi court seeking his inclusion as a public prosecutor in 2G spectrum case.
2011	4 Jan	Swamy moves SC seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum licences.
2011	10 Jan	SC issues notice to Centre on the plea seeking cancellation of 2G licenses. Also issues notices to 11 companies which allegedly did not fulfill the roll-out obligations or were ineligible.
	30 Jan	Government's decision to regularise licences of the companies which failed to meet the deadline for roll-out obligation challenged in SC.
	2 Feb	Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura and Raja's former Personal Secretary R K Chandolia arrested.
	8 Feb	Shahid Usman Balwa, promoter of Swan Telecom, arrested by CBI.
	17 Feb	Raja sent to Tihar Jail under judicial custody.
	14 Mar	Delhi HC sets up special court to deal exclusively with 2G cases.
	29 Mar	Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal arrested.
	2 Apr	CBI files its first charge sheet in the 2G case.
	25 Apr	CBI files second charge sheet.
	20 May	Special CBI Court rejects bail pleas of Kanimozhi and Sharath Kumar and orders their arrest.
	6 Jun	Siva complains to CBI that Maran brothers had forced him to sell Aircel to Maxis.
	20 Jun	SC rejects Kanimozhi's bail plea.
	25 Jul	Raja seeks to make PM and former FM P Chidambaram as witnesses.
2011	26 Aug	Special CBI Court allows Subramanian Swamy to argue his own case (mainly to address the possible loopholes in CBI's investigation).
	1 Sep	Enforcement Directorate files status report in SC.
	22 Sep	CBI defends Chidambaram in SC, blames DoT for all wrongs.
	29 Sep	CBI says role of Anil Ambani being probed, gives a virtual clean chit to Tata and Videocon groups.
	9 Oct	CBI files FIR against Maran brothers in Aircel-Maxis deal.
	22 Oct	Special CBI Court finds prima facie evidence to put on trial all 17 accused, including Raja, on various counts such as criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, cheating and forgery.
	3 Nov	Special CBI court dismisses bail pleas of all the 8 applicants (including Kanimozhi).
	11 Nov	Trial of the 17 accused begins in Patiala House special CBI Court.
	23 Nov	Bail to 5 corporate executives - Sanjay Chandra of Unitech Wireless, Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom and Reliance Group's Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair.
	28 Nov	Bail to DMK MP Kanimozhi and 4 others - Karim Morani, Sharath Kumar, Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal.
	29 Nov	Special CBI Court grants bail to Shahid Balwa.
	1 Dec	Special CBI Court grants bail to R K Chandolia.
	12 Dec	CBI files third charge sheet, names Essar group's Ravi and Anshuman Ruia and Vikas Saraf, Loop Telecom promoters Kiran Khaitan and her husband I P Khaitan.
	16Dec	HC rejects bail plea of Siddharth Behura.
2012	2 Feb	SC cancels all 122 licenses allotted during A Raja tenure and imposes 5 crore fine on Unitech, Swan and Tata Teleservices; 50 lakh fine on Loop Telecom, S-Tel, Allianz Infratech and Sistema Shyam Tele Services Ltd. It also asks trial court to decide whether Home Minister P Chidambram should be made co-accused in 2G scam.

AFTER THE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT
Year	Date	Event
2012	4Feb	Special CBI Court of Justice O P Saini dismisses Swamy's plea to name then Finance Minister P Chidambram as co-accused in the 2G scam.
	8Feb	Money laundering case against Maran brothers for their role in the Aircel-Maxis deal.
	9Feb	Essar group and Loop Telecom approach SC against its trial before Special CBI Court in 2G case.
	15 Feb	Supreme Court refuses interim stay on the summons issued against Essar and Loop.
	23 Feb	Swamy files a petition in SC challenging trial court's order dismissing his plea to make P Chidambaram a co-accused in the scam.
	2Mar	Government of India (GoI) files review petition seeking partial review of SC's order quashing 122 licenses. It questions SC's authority to overrule the first-come, first-served policy. On the same day Sistema, majority shareholder in MTS India, files a review petition in SC.
	4Apr	Other than the government's partial review petition, SC dismisses all 10 review petitions. The telecom companies whose review petitions were dismissed include Videocon Telecommunications, S Tel, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, Tata Teleservices, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu), Etisalat DB Telecom and Idea Cellular.
2012	12 Apr	Government files presidential reference in SC seeking its opinion on various issues arising from SC's 2 February 2012 judgement.
	9 May	SC grants bail to Siddharth Behura and upholds R K Chandolia's bail. A Raja applies for bail the same day.
	15 May	Bail granted to A Raja but he is asked to get the Court's permission for visiting Tamil Nadu. He walks out of Tihar jail after 15 months.
	6 Jun	Delhi Court allows Raja to visit Tamil Nadu.

2G SPECTRUM GRAB

INSIDE STORY OF THE 2G SCAM

The first objective and complete book on the 2G scam, Spectrum Grab is an engaging account of the scandal that has rocked the Indian government and shocked its people. The first objective and complete book on the 2G scam, Spectrum Grab is an engaging account of the scandal that has rocked the Indian government and shocked its people.

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