2G

Spectrum
2G?
• 2G is short for second-generation cellular
technology.
• Commercially launched in Finland in 1991.
Spectrum?
• It relates to the radio frequencies allocated to
the mobile industries and the other sectors for
communication over the air waves
 2G Spectrum
This case was an alleged scam by the politicians
and government officials under the UPA
coalition government in India.

Accusation:-
Undercharging mobile companies for
frequencies allocation licenses, used to create
2G spectrum subscriptions for cell phones.
Background
• India is divided into 22 telecommunications
zones, with 281 zonal licences.
• In 2008, 122 new second gen. licences were
granted to telecom companies on a first-come
first- served basis at the 2001 price.
• According to the CBI charge sheet bribes are
paid to favour certain firms in granting 2G
spectrum licenses.
Accused Parties
• A. Raja – Minister of Communication and IT.
• M.K. Kanimozhi - Minister of home affairs.
• Siddharth Behura - Telecom Secretary
• R.K. Chandolia - Raja’s Private Secretary.
• P. Chidambaram – Minister of home affairs.
What happened?
• Unitech and Swan Telecom got licenses without any prior
telecom experience.
• Swan telecom was given licences even though it didn’t meet
the eligibility criteria.
• Former P.M. Dr. Manmohan Singh advice Raja to revise the
licenses fee in 2007, which was ignored.
• On 5th Sep 2007 the DOT announced on its website that only
applicants only filing between 3:30 & 4:30 pm that day would
be granted licenses.
• On 10th Jan 2008 companies were given only a few hours to
supply letters of intent and payments.
• Some exclutives were allegedly tip of by Raja.
Corporation Involved
Media involved
• Corporate lobbyist Nira Radia conversation
with politicians corporates and journalist were
recorded by income tax department.
• Tape was leaked which gave rise to Nira Radia
tape controversy.
• CBI has 5851 recordings of conversations.
• Media hyped this issue but hide the
involvement of big corporate.
 Initiatves to avoid scams
• Setting up of preventive measures
• Protection of Civil Servants
• Stopping the culture of sponsoring politicians
by businessman.
• Stopping media from taking bribe by
politicians and corporates.
 Conclusion
• Scams and frauds breaks slower downs the
progress of a country
• Media should focus on the reasons behind the
scams instead of exaggerating the story for
TRP.
• Awareness among the citizens