7/28/2019 Behind the S
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Behind the S-band spectrum scandal
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Every well-informed schoolchild knows this is rising India's Age
of Uninterrupted Scams. Nogovernment before the present United
Progressive Alliance regime has had to deal with such adizzying
succession of exposs of corruption scandals2G spectrum, the
CommonwealthGames, Adarsh Housing, money laundering, and the rest
that have come tumbling out. The latestin the series is the Indian
Space Research Organisation's dealhatched in secret and sought tobe
covered up over a period of six yearsto launch two
customer-specific satellites and giveaway 70 MHz of high-value
S-band for unfettered commercial exploitation at a scandalously
lowprice of just over Rs 1000 crore to a private company, Devas
Multimedia Private Limited. Thetransaction and its implications
were first exposed byBusiness Line, the business daily ofTheHindu
group, in adetailed reportpublished on May 31, 2010.
Despite Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal's defence of the
indefensible, enough isknown about the 2G spectrum allocation scam
to place it at the top of the list of independentIndia's corruption
scandals. But what is the essence of the S-band spectrum deal
concluded inJanuary 2005 between ISRO's commercial arm, Antrix
Corporation, and Devas Multimediawhich, it turns out, was born of
an incestuous relationship with India's space programme?
Theagreement (the full text is available under Resources at
www.thehindu.com) relates to twocustomer-specific satellites,
GSat-6 and GSat 6-A, which ISRO is contractually committed
todesign, build, and launch in order to make available to Devas the
S-band spectrum forcommercialising a range of multimedia, broadband
services across India. What is special aboutthe S-band, which is
defined as radio waves with frequencies that range from 2 GHz to 4
GHz?According to The 2.6 GHz Spectrum Band: Unique Opportunity to
Realize Global Mobile
Broadband, a 2009 report prepared for the GSM Association: As
mobile voice and data trafficincreases, wireless operators around
the world will require additional spectrum. However, as afinite
public commodity, few bands remain available for new allocation to
mobile wirelessservices and even fewer exist for global
harmonisation of wireless spectrum assets. The 2.6 GHzband is one
exception. The 2.6 GHz band (2500-2690 MHz), sometimes also
referred as the 2.5GHz band, was allocated by the World
Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in 2000 forterrestrial mobile
communications services. The band provides an opportunity to meet
rapidlyrising demand for capacity to deliver mobile broadband
services on a widespread, common basisacross the world.
Armed with secret knowledge of what ISRO could do for it by
launching customer-specificsatellites to make available at a
throwaway price a large chunk of S-band spectrum, DevasMultimediaa
venture founded in 2004 at the initiative of former officials of
the Indian spaceprogramme and involving foreign investorsthought it
had struck gold. In July 2008, it evensold a 17 per cent stake to
Deutsche Telecom AG for $ 75 million (around Rs. 318 crore at
thetime) and over the next year was clearly looking forward to a
time of unrivalled growth invaluation. According to a preliminary
estimate by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India,whose
search for the relevant documents within the Department of Space
has been actively
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7/28/2019 Behind the S
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obstructed, the presumptive loss of revenue to the government in
the event of the Antrix-Devasdeal going through now would exceed
two lakh crore rupees (approximately $44.4 billion).
ISRO and the Department of Space have scored many successes and
enjoyed a good, cleanreputation over the decades. Fortunately, in
late 2009 some outraged insiders blew the whistle on
the secret dealso secret that ISRO's chief, K. Radhakrishnan,
had to admit at a pressconference on February 8, 2011 that for
reasons that were being reviewed internally, ISROfailed explicitly
to inform the Union Cabinet that GSat-6 and GSat-6A were
customer-specificsatellites that would be predominantly used for a
novel and commercial application developedby Devas Multimedia in
association with global experts. Towards the end of 2009, thanks to
the
whistle-blowers and perhaps not unrelated to the stink raised by
the 2G spectrum allocationscandal, a view began to form at the top
levels of ISRO that the Antrix-Devas deal must beannulled. The
Space Commission also wanted the deal to be annulled and the Prime
Minister wasinformed on an indeterminate date.
But nothing much happened untilBusiness Line published its
report in May 2010, which the
CAG followed up conscientiously despite the bureaucratic hurdles
placed in its path. Among theconcerns registered by the CAG in its
process of enquiry were the following: S-band spectrumwas being
given away without inviting competitive bids; organisational
control systems were notfollowed; the Prime Minister's Office, the
Cabinet, and the Space Commission were not properlyinformed about
the contract details; public resources were being diverted to
building twocustomer-specific satellites; and the contract terms
deviated from the terms of previous contractsentered into by ISRO
and Antrix. To cut the story short, the publication of the results
of thespecialBusiness Line investigation, backed up by documents
and other reliable evidence, in TheHindu andBusiness Line has
brought the CAG's commendable efforts to lightand placed thenature,
scale, and modalities of the S-band spectrum scandal on the public
agenda. True to form,those at the receiving end have questioned the
accuracy of the media reports or suggested theyare overblown. It is
a matter of satisfaction that the deal now seems to be heading for
annulmentbut no thanks to due diligence and oversight by a central
government whose procrastination,lack of transparency, obfuscation,
and indeed delinquency in this affair have shocked the nation.
