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. |