2011 was a tumultuous year for the telecom sector.
While the year saw the 2G case reveal the murky underbelly of wheeling dealing, it also saw telecos face some of their toughest moments. Similarly, consumers finally got relief from pesky calls.
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2011 has also been the year, when the high and mighty fell under the collective weight of the 2G scam.
With the Supreme Court monitoring the CBI investigation closely, it was a matter of time before the agency made a few high profile arrests; and the first to go behind bars was former telecom minister, A Raja, along with two former telecom ministry officials S Behura and R K Chandolia followed by Swan telecom head, Shahid Balwa.
CBI CHARGESHEET IN THE 2G SCAM
The CBI finally filed the first charge sheet in the 2G scam case on April 2.
With the main accused behind bars, the investigation gathered steam and on April 20, in one swoop, Unitech's Sanjay Chandra and ADAG group's 3 top officials were sent behind bars.
The main charge sheet was filed by CBI in the Patiala house court against Raja and the government officials, accusing them of using their position to give undue favours to certain companies, by allotting them 2G licenses. It blamed the corporates leaders for being a party to this conspiracy.
BIG HONCHOS NAMED
On the other hand, the big political fish, DMK supremo, Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi was also facing the heat.
The CBI filed a supplementary charge sheet on 25th April, with Kanimozhi's name finding a prominent mention.
CBI had accused Kanimozhi of helping Raja to facilitate a bribe of Rs 200 crore from Swan through her television channel, Kaliagnar TV.
And finally on May 20, Kanimozhi was picked up by the CBI and sent to jail along with Cineyug films owner Karim Morani.
MID-2011
By mid-2011, the 2G trial was in full flow with the dedicated court hearing the case on a daily basis
By October, charges were framed against the accused and multiple bail pleas filed by the accused were rejected.
COURT AGREES FOR BAIL
Finally, after spending over 6 months at Tihar jail, relief finally came in November, when Sanjay Chandra, Vinod Goenka, Kanimozhi and the three ADAG executives were released on bail.
Mukul Rohatgi, lawyer in the 2G case said November 23, 2011, "Now they can effectively take part in the trial and instruct their lawyers; because this is the case of documentary evidence. It is not a case of eye witness case like a murder case. So that is one part. But the larger part according to me is the worries that the Supreme Court is restating the principle of bail."
However there was more drama in store.
CBI FILES FRESH CHARGE SHEET
CBI struck again on December 12, when it filed its second supplementary charge sheet naming Essar top honchos, Ravi Ruia, Anshuman Ruia, Vikas Saraf and the Khaitans.
It accused them of cheating the telecom department by using Loop telecom as a front entity, to corner licences, even though they already had a joint venture with Vodafone in India.
A mention in the CBI chargesheet has already forced Ravi Ruia to step down from the Chairman's post at Essar Energy to protect investor and lender concerns.
Clearly the year has been quite eventful for telecom companies in India.
If finding themselves on the wrong side of the law and battling difficult economic conditions were not enough, the industry's troubled relationship with the telecom department also made several headlines.
Even as the year comes to a close, telcos are now fighting DoT over a ban on 3G roaming agreements. They are now hoping that 2012 will see an end to the 2G trial and the policy paralysis in the telecom sector.
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