In what promises to be a US$1 billion blow to the finances of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favour of the multimedia firm Devas Multimedia over Antrix Corp Limited – the commercial arm of ISRO – noting that the ISRO/Antrix side had been wrong to cancel a 2005 deal covering the use of satellite payloads and spectrum. The ruling follows a similar decision made by a International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal in September 2015 which awarded Devas and its investors US$672 million plus interest. With costs, the amount to be paid out by ISRO could grow to US$1 billion.
The original contract between Devas and Antrix was made in 2005. In the deal, ISRO was to build and launch two communications satellites, GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A, with Devas Multimedia paying US$300 million to lease 90% of the S-band capacity for 12 years to provide mobile telephone and internet services. The contract was cancelled in 2011 after the Indian government realised that Devas had significantly benefited from very cheap access to the S-band spectrum.
