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FROM
THE EDITOR IN CHIEF
Since their launch
in India five years ago, mobile phones have changed the way we live, work
and play. They have spread like wild fire and now have 3.32 million users,
a number projected to grow to 50 million by 2005. This is big business.
Thousands of crores have been paid to acquire licences or existing operations.
And though controversy has been a constant companion for some time, the
scale is vastly different today.
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Our cover on the Sukh Ram scandal
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When bids opened for cellular and basic operations
in 1994, they totalled Rs 1,20,000 crore; an astounding Rs 85,925 crore
was bid by a company with an annual turnover of only Rs 250 crore. Just
a year later, when Sukh Ram had ceased to be telecom minister, investigators
uncovered over Rs 3 crore of unaccounted cash in his homes, and there
was evidence he had favoured one company over the bidding fee, among other
indiscretions. Finally, bids closed for a total of Rs 56,000 crore in
licence fee for a period of 20 years. But in three years, operators were
bankrupt and were only able to pay Rs 8,000 crore. In 1999, amidst controversy
the policy was changed to a revenue-sharing arrangement, spreading payments
over a longer period. Operators have used these precedents to skew policy
in their favour, making a mockery of the whole tendering process.
We have tracked the growth and scandals with
numerous features and cover stories ("The Telephone Trauma",
1983; "Sukh Ram: The Stench of Corruption", 1996; and "The
Emergence of the Cellerati", 1998). The recent controversy over WiLL
or Wireless in Local Loop is the subject of our cover story this week.
A policy change earlier this year permitted basic telephone operators
using WiLL technology to offer cheap mobile services as well, cutting
into established networks. The case was important enough for the Principal
Secretary to the Prime Minister, in his famous post-Tehelka press conference,
to categorically say the policy changes were not initiated by the PMO.
"The kind of pressure being built even raises questions about the
stability and credibility of the Government," says Editor Prabhu
Chawla, lead author of the investigative story this week along with Associate
Editor Rohit Saran and Special Correspondent Malini Goyal.
Telecom is a key infrastructure area closely
linked to India's economic progress. Our story about the zig-zagging telecom
policy shows how decisions at the highest levels are manipulated, institutions
bypassed and questionable favours granted.
(Aroon
Purie)
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