The result was that Reliance's bids were at the bottom in most circles. It ended up bagging six -- Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh and the North-East -- many of which did not hold much interest for other bidders.
At that time, the group's telecom business was with Anil Ambani, who, realising the difficulty in recovering bills from the subscribers in his circles, introduced the concept of pre-paid connections in 1996. Sometime in 1998-99, his brother Mukesh took charge of the group's telecom business and began the march into CDMA.
Those who agree and sympathise with RCom say Anil Ambani was always a GSM man. Had Reliance's telecom business stayed with him, there would not have been this affair with CDMA. The company therefore may not be too perturbed by GSM's victory claims.
Image: Indian movie actress Katrina Kaif poses with a newly launched 3G Spice cellular telephone in New Delhi. | Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images
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