Devas welcomes review of Antrix deal

Embroiled in a controversy, Devas Mulitimedia today welcomed the review of its space segment deal with Antrix ordered by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and hoped no "precipitate decision" would be taken before the probe was complete.

"The company will cooperate in the fullest with these reviews, which it hopes will be completed before any precipitate decision is taken on the agreement," Devas President and CEO Ramachandran Viswanathan said.

The Prime Minister had formed a committee comprising B K Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission and Roddam Narasimha, Member, Space Commission to review the technical, commercial, procedural and financial aspects of the agreement between Antrix and Devas Multimedia.

They have been asked to submit their report within a month.

The deal signed in 2005 is said to have caused and estimated loss of Rs 2 lakh crore to the exchequer. The PMO and ISRO have dismissed any loss saying neither transponders nor spectrum had been allotted to Devas or Antrix.

"We are fully committed to working with anybody in the government on the reviews and will be willing to share any requested information with agencies concerned," Viswanathan said.

He said as of date, Devas Multimedia has not received any official communication on the cancellation of the agreement nor has it been provided any reasons for such possible action.

"We continue to await Department of Space/ISRO/Antrix to deliver the contracted space segment capacity, notwithstanding any statements they have made," he said.

Viswanathan said following media speculation about a potential cancellation of the agreement in July last year, Devas had proactively volunteered to meet the Space Commission and DoS, ISRO and Antrix to address and clarify any questions in respect of the agreement.

"We also met and briefed the chairman (of) ISRO and his senior team in October 2010 on the progress of the Devas project/technologies," he said.

"At no time in these meetings or communications were any concerns in respect of the programme or agreement raised. The company has continually wished to ensure the facts of the agreement and the project were fully understood and that the unwarranted misrepresentations and misperceptions were avoided," he said.