Rata Tata takes on rivals on 2G scam

New Delhi : Setting aside all speculations, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said his company did not get any advantage on telecom policies from scam-tainted A Raja.

Replying to an open letter by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Tata said: ?TTSL (Tata Teleservices Limited) has not been advantaged in any way by Mr. Raja or any earlier Minister.?

In fact, Tata said it was Chandrasekhar and others ?lobbied aggressively? through COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) to ensure against a ?technologically agnostic? environment.

Tata said Chandrasekhar and industrialist Nusli Wadia had approached him in July 2002 to sign a letter against a technology neutral policy.

?A technology agnostic policy has resulted in more than 100 million subscribers and over 700 million to date which is far higher than the envisioned 50 million subscribers in 2006 as mentioned in the letter of 2002,? said Tata.

?Growth could have been far greater had incumbent operators like Mr. Chandrashekar risen above self interest of protecting their investment and allowing the existence of all technologies on an equal footing.?

Tata said: ?The same operators continue to subvert policy; have even paid fees for spectrum, even before the announcement of a policy, and have ?de-facto? ownership in several new telecom enterprises.?

?This is the smoke screen that I am referring to these subverters of government policy continue to do so.?

Tata said TTSL is awaiting allotment of spectrum in Delhi and 39 key districts for about three years.

?TTSL is the only operator that returned spectrum when demanded by DoT (Department of Telecomm). The CAG report clearly indicates which of the powerful GSM operators are holding spectrum beyond their entitlement free of cost and to the detriment of the other operators,? said Tata.

He said: ?As Tatas did not enjoy ?captive connections? in the environment, the Tata Group had no option but to seek an external agency focused at projecting its point of view and countering the misinformation a vested interest viewpoints.?

Tata said Chandrasekhar parked himself at Taj Mahal Hotel to prevent WLL Limited Mobility and also constantly solicited support of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

?Your affiliation to a particular political party is well known and it appears their political aspirations and their endeavour to embarrass the Prime Minister and the ruling party may well have been the motivation behind your letter,? Tata said in his reply to Chandrashekhar.

?We should all note that many of the flip flops in the telecom policy occurred during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime. Recent policy broke the powerful cartel which had been holding back competition and delaying implementation of policies.?

Tata said: ?The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has not ascribed any value to 48 new GSM licences issued to incumbents during 2004-08 and 65MHz of additional spectrum even though CAG was supposed to cover the period from 2003.?

?I support the ongoing investigations and believe that the period of investigations should be extended to 2001. We have not wavered in upholding our values and ethical standards despite the erosion in the ethical fabric in the country and besmirch our record,? he said.

While A Raja had to resign over the Rs 1.76 lakh crore ($ 40billion) 2G spectrum allocation scam and is under the scanner of the CBI, some tapes of conversation between journalists and Tata appointed PR professional Niira Radia hinted at corporate lobbying.