- CAG has started inquiries into a 2005 agreement between the Indian Space Research Organisation's commercial arm Antrix Corporation Ltd. and Devas Multimedia Private Ltd.
- The agreement relates to ISRO's launching of two satellites for Devas but automatically bestows on the latter a large hidden benefit: unbridled use of 70 MHz of the scarce S-band spectrum over a 20-year period.
- ISRO is under the Department of Space (DoS), which is directly in the Prime Minister's charge.
- Business Line learns that according to preliminary CAG estimates, this spectrum largesse to a private customer could have caused the exchequer a loss in excess of Rs. 2 lakh crore. According to the contract with Devas, Antrix would have earned $11 million a year per satellite for 12 years.
- Under the deal, Devas Multimedia is to get access to 70 Mhz of broadband spectrum in the 2500 Mhz band. This was once used by Doordarshan to deliver programmes by satellite to all parts of the country but is now considered to be of enormous commercial value for high-speed, terrestrial mobile communications. In 2010, the Union government got nearly Rs. 67,719 crore from the auction of just 15 Mhz of similar airwaves for 3G mobile services.
● S-band spectrum was allocated without inviting competitive bids
● Organisational control systems were not followed
● The Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet, and the Space Commission have not been properly informed about the contract details, including the underestimation of ISRO's costs
● Public resources were diverted to build two customer-specific satellites
● Devas Multimedia's terms deviate from those in past commercial contracts of ISRO/Antrix
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