Did people gain from telecom firms selling stakes: Jayalalithaa

Email Story Write to the editor Print Story Chennai, Jan 29: AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa today said she wondered how selling of stakes by telecom companies that got 2G spectrum licences had benefited the common man, as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M.Karunanidhi had stated."Letter pad companies like Swan Telecom and Unitech have sold their stakes for huge sums soon after getting the licence. Is the profiteering by the letter pad companies a benefit for the common people?" Jayalalithaa said, reacting to Karunandhi's statement that the central government had followed first come-first serve policy in awarding 2G spectrum to benefit the people.Jayalalithaa said many companies that got the spectrum are yet to start their mobile telephony service.She queried whether the former communications minister A. Raja got the consent of the union cabinet to follow a different route than auctioning of spectrum and why he rejected the recommendations of several people to entrust the spectrum pricing to empowered group of ministers (eGOM) or to auction the spectrum. (IANS)