TRAI Chairman deposes before JPC on 2G scam

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman J S Sarma told the Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiring into the 2G Spectrum scam about its methodology and process for arriving at recommendations on allocation of 2G spectrum. 

TRAI had recommended cancellation of 74 licences issued between 2006 and 2008 and also advised against placing a cap on the number of service providers in contrast to the Department of Telecom's recommendation for placing such a cap, he said. 

The Authority had given 11 reports on 2G so far, some on Government reference and some suo motu. 

Meanwhile, the JPC headed by P C Chacko said it would begin examining witnesses from 7 July, starting with former Telecom secretaries including P J Thomas. 

The political figures involved in the scam would be the last to be called by the Committee. 

The nine former Telecom secretaries who would be deposing before the committee from its next sitting in July are A B Kokak, Anil Kumar, Shyamal Ghosh, Vinod Vaish, Nripendra Misra, J S Sarma, DS Mathur, Siddharth Behura and P J Thomas. 

Enforcement Directorate has told JPC that cases had been registered against 10 companies: Unitech Wireless, Swan Telecom, Loop Telecommunications, Stel, Videocon Telecommunications, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Sistema Shyam teleservices, Alliance Infotech that later merged with Etislaat, and Spic Communications which merged with Idea Cellular.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/telecom-news/item/1060-trai-chairman-deposes-before-jpc-on-2g-scam.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/telecom-news/item/1060-trai-chairman-deposes-before-jpc-on-2g-scam.html