Devas drags Antrix to international court

Devas Multimedia has approached the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) seeking restoration of its contract with Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) commercial arm Antrix which was terminated in February after allegations of wrongdoing emerged over the allocation of S-band spectrum. Devas has not sought any specific monetary damages but has asked the tribunal that it should be compensated for breach of agreement. It has sought that Antrix’s termination of the contract should be termed improper and invalid and has asked for a declaration that the agreement with Antrix remains “fully extant and binding”. It has also urged the tribunal under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to direct Antrix, the department of space and Isro to deliver the satellite capacity to Devas by October 15, 2012 and to fulfill all its obligations under the agreement signed in January 2005. The deal relates to the leasing of capacity in the S-band on GSAT 6 and 6A satellites to be launched by Isro and DoS. Devas was to use the leased capacity for 12 years to offer multimedia services. Antrix was entitled to $340 million from Devas while the cost incurred by the government was likely to be around $170 million. In February 2006, Antrix informed Devas that it had received the necessary approvals for building, launching and leasing capacity of S-band satellites. After this confirmation, Devas moved the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for approvals for its foreign investments. But Devas has maintained that Antrix didn’t deliver the satellite on time. In 2009, Isro and DoS had assured that the satellites would be completed and launched by July 2010. But after the controversy over allocation of S-band spectrum surfaced, the government cancelled the contract between Antrix and Devas. In February, 2011, Antrix informed Devas that the contract had been terminated.