Allegations because I did not favour particular cartel: A Raja

Telecom minister A Raja, who is embroiled in a controversy over 2G spectrum allocation, today said allegations were levelled were because he did not favour any cartel.

"The reason for various allegations is that I did not favour any cartel," he said while distributing free mobile phones to 1,200 BPL households at Avanashi in nearby Tirupur district.

The minister, however did not elaborate.

Earlier this week on September 13, the Supreme Court had asked the government and Raja to reply to a bunch of petitions alleging that there was a Rs70,000-crore scam in the grant of telecom licences in 2008 and that the Centre was trying to put a lid on the investigations.

The next day Raja had said that the controversy over 2G spectrum allocation was "politically motivated.

Stating that he was leading a telecom revolution in the country, he said rural teledensity has increased from eight to 28% in the last two years after he took over.

The telecom department was taking serious efforts to implement various schemes for people, particularly those Below Poverty Line (BPL), he said.

Raja said the department proposed to provide broadband coverage in all villages in two years through Optic Fibre Cable, funds for which would be earmarked from the Universal Service Obligation Fund.

The minister said a pilot scheme to provide free handsets with BSNL SIM cards in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, as part of BSNL's Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, would be extended to other parts of the country, depending on the success of the scheme.