India's telecommunications minister A Raja has resigned over claims that licences had been improperly¹ given to mobile phone firms.

印度电信部长拉贾因涉嫌向移动通信公司非法发放许可证而辞职。

He said he was quitting "to avoid embarrassment² to the government". He denies wrongdoing.

Opposition³ has been protesting over Mr Raja's alleged⁴ role in the sale of second generation (2G) licences.

Federal auditors⁵（审计员） reportedly estimate that billions of dollars were lost as a result.

Mr Raja - who belongs to the DMK party, an ally of the governing Congress party - has been accused of issuing licences on a "first-come first-served" basis instead of auctioning⁷ them, reports say.

In May, India's auction⁶ of third generation (3G) bandwidth for mobile phone services ended with the government reaping $15bn, twice the sum expected.

There are about half a billion mobile phone subscribers in India, the world's fastest growing mobile market.

Last week, two senior members of India's governing Congress party resigned over separate corruption⁸ allegations.

Ashok Chavan quit as the chief minister of western Maharashtra state amid allegations he was involved in homes meant for war widows being transferred to politicians and military officers.

Controversial Commonwealth⁹ Games organiser Suresh Kalmadi also quit his party post.