Government of India has refused to grant the right to use S Band spectrum to Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), making the latter’s deal with Devas Multimedia irrelevant.
ISRO-Antrix has already taken millions of dollars from the Bangalore-based firm and is also learnt to have spent considerable amount of money and effort in designing the special high-power satellites required for the planned music service. In addition, Devas too has spent around $165 million in constructing a ground-station and thousands of receiving radios for its Worldspace-like service.
“Taking note of the fact that Government policies with regard to allocation of spectrum have undergone a change in the last few years and there has been an increased demand for allocation of spectrum for national needs.. and having regard to the needs of the country’s strategic requirements, the Government will not be able to provide orbit slot in S band to Antrix for commercial activities,” the government of India said in a note after the Cabinet Committee on Security met on Thursday.