All 2G all the time, except when it’s 3G

Further to my article on India's budding mobile Internet revolution today, Anil Ambani's ADAG-Reliance bounced back after being hammered on the exchange following the billionaire's sit-down with the Central Bureau of Investigation — which questioned him about possible irregularities related to the so-called 2G telecom spectrum scam.

Of course, it wasn't *my* article that brought ADAG back…. It seems Anil went straight from the CBI's carpet to the Maharashtra chief minister's office, where he may well have secured verbal assurances regarding a lucrative contract for his Reliance Infra arm to build a coastal highway from Worli to Haji Ali and from Haji Ali to Nariman Point in Mumbai.

But Anil's 3G offering is in the stock market news, too, as shares of Tanla Solutions shot up on word that the company has been tapped to supply the 3G broadcast tech for Reliance to provide a "suite of 3G services" including match videos related to the ongoing Cricket World Cup — the most watched event in Indian television.

Anyway, it's time for another honcho to make the trip to the CBI offices for a quiz on the 2G spectrum scam — Loop Telecom CEO Sandeep Basu.

The 2G spectrum snafu is a financial Rubik's Cube more confusing than the Enron debacle, and I'm still not convinced we'll see anybody actually go to jail (or lose their telecom license). But ADAG may not have seen the last of the CBI hot seat, a compelling piece of investigative journalism from India's Tehelka magazine suggests. The whole thing is worth a read if you really want to understand why folks keep calling how former telecom minister A. Raja alloted telecom licenses a scam. But as far as ADAG and Anil Ambani go, the key point's in this graf:

"The CBI has unearthed a money trail of Rs. 100 crore ($22 million) that starts from the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, goes through the Delhi-based real estate company Anant Raj Group and [Mumbai billionaire Shahid] Balwa, and finally ends with a company associated with [an] influential Maharashtra politician."

Wheels within wheels, anyone?