AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa on Tuesday demanded that Union Communications and IT Minister A Raja resign and face a probe on the 'spectrum allotment scam'.
In a statement here, she said according to current estimates, the country had suffered a loss of over Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) due to the allotment of spectrum space to two companies.
The Union communications ministry had allotted the licence, to "roll out operations in 13 out of 22 telecom licenced areas, to Swan Telecom and Unitech telecom." Both these companies had "no base" in the telecommunication industry and hence the allocation of spectrum to these companies for Rs 1,650 crore (Rs 16.50 billion) each, the rate fixed in 01, was "considered strange," she said.
Unitech borrowed around Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) from the holding company and banks, to pay Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion) and Norway-based telecom major Telenor had acquired 60 per cent stake in the company, by paying Rs 6,120 crore (Rs 61.20 billion), she said, putting the enterprise value of the company at Rs 11,620 crore (Rs 116.20 billion).
Reliance Communications, which had 9.9 per cent stake in Swan, sold it to Delphi Investments, a Mauritius-based company, after Swan got the license. UAE's telecom giant Emirates Telecommunications (ETOSALAR) had also made huge investments to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) in Swan, she alleged.
The decision of Telenor and Etosalar were a clear indication that global telecom giants were interested in investing in Indian telecom market, she said.
"Could not the Centre exploit the demand and garner huge funds through global auction of 2G spectrum? Who is responsible for this loss? Is not the minister handling the portfolio responsible?" she asked.
