New Delhi August 7;There has been no loss of revenue arising out of the Antrix-Devas deal as the agreement has been annulled, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
“Antrix-Devas agreement has been annulled in February 2011 and no transponder has been leased to Devas under the agreement. Hence, there has been no loss of revenue,” Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy said.
Under the deal, Antrix, ISRO’s commercial arm, was to provide crucial S-Band wavelength, which is primarily kept for strategic interests of the country, to Devas for running its digital multimedia service by leasing 90 per cent transponders on two satellites – GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A.
The company had to pay Antrix a total of $ 300 million over a period of 12 years.
Antrix had signed the contract in January 2005 and got sanction of the Space Commission and the Union Cabinet for the two satellites at the cost of nearly Rs 400 crore without informing them that bulk capacity would be leased to Devas.
In December 2009, ISRO ordered a review of the deal and subsequently Space Commission had recommended its annulment on July 2, 2010.
Antrix Corporation Ltd, has sent the Agreement Termination Notice to Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd on February 25, 2011.
