At this time privatisation minister Arun Shourie sold VSNL to Tatas for a pittance of Rs.1400 crores. Mind you VSNL had cash balance of this much amount forgetting the other assets. Again there were mild whispers and no serious charges were levelled. It was when VSNL Board passed a resolution to transfer this fund to TTSL( Tata Teleservices Ltd)  all hell broke loose and the then Telecom Minister played the arbiter. Tatas were till then known for their unimpeachable integrity.

Then there was a festival of 2G roll out. This was expected to enable service providers to offer transmission of data in a faster mode through vacated voice spectrum - which was in the exclusive domain of military largely remaining unutilised. the attempt was to garner more revenue for the state running perennially on deficits. This time, the service providers wanted the spectrum free except Ratan Tata who said a nominal licence fee of Rs 1000 crores to be charged. Some of them suggested that the licences be auctioned. But the Minister at that time, reasoned that revenue sharing will be a better option rather than outright auction because it will ensure a steady flow of revenue to the state. The later events are as they say History.

Now we have telecom operators from AIR TEL, AIR CELL, Vodafone( erstwhile Hutchison Essar), Idea Cellular( in the first stage BPL had pan India licences which Rajiv Chandrasekar sold for a hefty amount ) BSNL, R Comm, Tata Indicom, Uninor, and so on. Air tel owners were running wheat flour business and cycle spares business in Ludhiana before becoming the numero uno, R Comm had its rendezvous in telecom business with a proclaimed social objective of providing cheap mode of communication as envisaged by late Dhirubai. Vodafone is fighting a legal battle for claims from income tax for the takeover of Hutchison Essar under the surmise that the transaction took place in a tax haven. some new licencees in 2G had no previous experience in telecom service as was Airtel, but managed to get some valuations for their equity thanks to the licence. 

Except for Tata- even they had a blemish in buy out of VSNL and Birlas( Idea is owned by Kumaramangalam Birla) all other companies are tainted either in the past or at present. Tatas had their values in their mind and even did not regret at step motherly treatment meted out to them by successive Telecom Ministers. Remember the claim of Ratan Tata about his refusal to pay bribe to start an airline. Birlas have been standing supporters of Freedom movement and that blood running through the veins of progeny ensures that they follow fair trade practices. All other companies look for commercial expediency and flout rules, values and everything.