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The 2G spectrum scam was an Indian telecommunications scam and political scandal in which politicians and government officials under the Congress government undercharged mobile telephone companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they then used to create 2G spectrum subscriptions for cell phones. The difference between the money collected and that mandated to be collected was estimated by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India at , based on 2010 3G and BWA spectrum-auction prices.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Performance Audit Report on the Issue of Licences and Allocation of 2G Spectrum )〕 In a chargesheet filed on 2 April 2011 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI, the investigating agency), the loss was pegged at . In a 19 August 2011 reply to the CBI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said that the government had gained over by selling 2G spectrum.〔 Minister of Communications & IT Kapil Sibal said in a 2011 press conference that "zero loss" was incurred by distributing 2G licenses on a first-come-first-served basis. On 2 February 2012, the Supreme Court of India ruled on a public interest litigation (PIL) related to the 2G spectrum scam. The court declared the allotment of spectrum "unconstitutional and arbitrary", cancelling the 122 licenses issued in 2008 under A. Raja (Minister of Communications & IT from 2007 to 2009), the primary official accused.〔 According to the court, Raja "wanted to favour some companies at the cost of the public exchequer" and "virtually gifted away important national asset()." The zero-loss theory was discredited〔 on 3 August 2012 when, after a Supreme Court directive, the government of India revised the base price for 5-MHz 2G spectrum auctions to , raising its value to about per MHz (near the Comptroller and Auditor General estimate of per MHz).〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article3742967.ece )〕 Although the policy for awarding licences was first-come, first-served, Raja changed the rules so it applied to compliance with conditions instead of the application itself. On 10 January 2008, companies were given only a few hours to supply Letters of Intent and payments; some executives were allegedly tipped off by Raja, and they (and the minister) were imprisoned.〔 In 2011 ''Time'' ranked the scam second on their "Top 10 Abuses of Power" list, behind the Watergate scandal. ==Background== India is divided into 22 telecommunications zones, with 281 zonal licenses. In 2008, 122 new second-generation 2G Unified Access Service (UAS) licenses were granted to telecom companies on a first-come, first-served basis at the 2001 price. According to the CBI charge sheet, several laws were violated and bribes paid to favour certain firms in granting 2G spectrum licenses. According to a CAG audit, licenses were granted to ineligible corporations, those with no experience in the telecom sector (such as Unitech and Swan Telecom) and those who had concealed relevant information. Although former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh advised Raja to allot 2G spectrum transparently and revise the license fee in a November 2007 letter, Raja rejected many of Singh's recommendations. In another letter that month, the Ministry of Finance expressed procedural concerns to the DOT;〔 these were ignored, and the cut-off date was moved forward from 1 October 2007 to 25 September.〔 On 25 September, the DOT announced on its website that applicants filing between 3:30 and 4:30 pm that day would be granted licenses.〔 Although the corporation was ineligible, Swan Telecom was granted a license〔 for and sold a 45-percent share to the UAE-based Etisalat for .〔 Unitech Wireless (a subsidiary of the Unitech Group) obtained a license for , selling a 60-percent share for to Norway-based Telenor.〔 This is a list of companies who received 2G licenses during Raja's term as telecom minister;〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5807414 )〕 the licenses were later cancelled by the Supreme Court: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2G spectrum scam」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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