The 2G scam in India, involving the issuance of 2G licenses at below-market rates, led to significant revenue loss for the government and implicated various politicians, bureaucrats, and corporate executives. In 2008, former telecom minister A. Raja facilitated the sale of these licenses, resulting in legal investigations and accusations of favoritism and corruption. The Supreme Court ruled the allocations unconstitutional in 2012, quashing 122 licenses and imposing fines on involved companies.

1. By
Sushant Palsra

2. Introduction
• Defination: 2G (Second Generation Telecommunication
Standard) is means the wireless mobiles which was
introduced in second generation. Spectrum means bandwidth
which was given by government of India. Now 2G is in
operation and 4G is expected.
• 2G Scam: It means issuing of 2G licenses to private telecom
companies at low prices. The companies paid fewer amounts
to the government which hits the profit and revenue of the
government. It was done by bribing the Department of
Telecom (DoT).

3. 2G Scam in India 2008
• India is divided into 22 telecoms zones and there are a total
281 zonal licenses in the market. These licenses are given by
Ministry of telecom to the telecom players in the market.
After acquiring the license the telecom companies start
providing 2G services to the customers.
• The 2G spectrum scandal involved officials in the government
of India illegally undercharging mobile telephony companies
for frequency allocation licenses, which they would use to
create 2G subscriptions for cell phones
• In 2008, 122 new 2G spectrum licenses were given to telecom
companies at the price of 2001 and on first come first serve
basis. At that time A.Raja was the telecom minister of India.

4. Continues…
• Raja arranged the sale of the 2G spectrum licenses below their
market value. Swan Telecom, a new company with few assets,
bought a license for 1,537 crore (US$338.14 million). The Unitech
Group, purchased a license for 1,661 crore (US$365.42 million).Nine
companies purchased licenses and collectively they paid the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology's
telecommunications division 10,772 crore (US$2.37 billion).
• The amount of money expected for this licensing by the
Comptroller and Auditor General of India was 176,000 crore
(US$38.72 billion). The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) says
that several rules were violated and bribes were paid to favor
certain firms while awarding 2G spectrum licenses. The audit report
of Comptroller and Auditor General of India says that several
licenses were issued to firms with no prior experience in the
telecom sector or were ineligible or had suppressed relevant facts.

5. Parties accused of involvement
Politicians involved
• A. Raja – the Minister of Communications and Information
Technology who sold the licenses
• M. K. Kanimozhi – Rajya Sabha MP
Bureaucrats involved
• Siddharth Behura – Former Telecom Secretary
• RK Chandolia – Raja's private secretary
Corporate Executives involved
• Corporates named as accused and/or beneficiary of the 2G
spectrum scam in the chargesheet filed by CBI in the Special
Court
• Vinod Goenka – Swan Telecom promoter

6. Continues..
• Sanjay Chandra – Managing Director of Unitech Wireless (Tamil
Nadu) Ltd
• Gautam Doshi – Managing Director of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai
Ambani Group
• Hari Nair – Senior vice-president of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani
Group
• Surendra Pipara – Senior vice- President of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai
Ambani Group
• Ravi Ruia - Vice-Chairman of Essar Group
• Anshuman Ruia - Diector of Essar Group
• Vikas Sara - Director for strategy and planning Essar Group
• IP Khaitan - Promotor Loop
• Kiran Khaitan - Promotor Loop
• Shahid Balwa – Swan Telecom promoter
• Sharath Kumar – Managing Director of Kalaignar TV

7. Continues…
• Rajiv Agarwal and Asif Balwa (younger brother of Shahid Balwa)
– Chief executives of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables
Film and Entertainment persons involved
• Karim Morani – Cineyug Media and Entertainment Ltd’s Director
Corporations accused
• Companies named in the charge sheet filed by Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) in the Special court:
• Unitech
• Reliance Telecom
• Swan Telecom
• Loop Telecom Pvt Ltd
• Loop Mobile India Ltd
• Essar Tele Holding
• Essar (Parent group of Essar Tele Holding)

8. Feb 02, 2012: Supreme Court Decision
• On February 02, 2012 Supreme Court of India quashed all 122
spectrum licenses granted during the tenure of former
communications minister A Raja.
• The allocation of 2G spectrum was described by Supreme Court as
"unconstitutional and arbitrary". The court imposed fine of Rs. 5
crore on Unitech Wireless, Swan telecom and Tata Teleservices and
Rs. 50 lakh fine on Loop Telecom, S Tel, Allianz Infratech and
Sistema Shyam Tele Services Ltd.
• The Supreme Court's ruling said the current licenses will remain in
place for four months, in which time the government should decide
fresh norms for issuing licenses, a lawyer involved in the case said.
The apex court said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would
submit its report on the 2G scam probe to the Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC).
• The Supreme Court said in its order that then telecom minister A.
Raja "wanted to favor some companies at the cost of the public
exchequer" and listed seven steps he took to ensure this happened.

9. The table below
shows list of companies whose license have been cancelled
Name of Company
Parent Group
Number of licenses
cancelled
Uninor
Joint venture between
Unitech Group of India and
Telenor of Norway Unitech
Group
22
Sistema Shyam
TeleServices Limited, now
MTS India
Joint venture between
Shyam group of Indian and
Sistema of Russia
21
Loop Mobile formerly BPL
Mobile
Owned by Khaitan Holding
Group
21
Videocon
Telecommunications
Limited
Owned by Videocon group
of India
21

10. Continues..
Name of Company
Parent Group
Number of licenses
cancelled
Etisalat-DB
Joint venture between Swan
Telecom of India and
Etisalat of UAE
15
Idea Cellular
Aditya Birla Group of India
(49.05%), Axiata Group
Berhad of Malaysia (15%)
& Providence
Equity(10.6%)of USA
13
S Tel
Joint venture between C
Sivasankaran of India
(51%) and Bahrain
Telecommunications (49%)
6
Tata Teleservices
Owned by Tata Group of
India
3