What is Devas Multimedia?

• The Hindu : Today's Paper News : What is Devas Multimedia?

  • founded in 2004, is headed by Dr. M.G. Chandrasekhar, former Scientific Secretary at ISRO.
  • He was earlier Managing Director of the satellite radio company WorldSpace, which shut shop in India last year
  • In 2008, Deutsche Telekom picked up 17 per cent stake in Devas for about $75 million
  • The board of directors includes Kiran Karnik, a former President of Nasscom; Larry Babio, a former vice-chairman of Verizon, and Gary Parsons, a former Chairman of XM Sirius Satellite.
  • On January 28, 2005, Devas Multimedia reached an agreement with Antrix, ISRO's commercial arm, to lease S-band transponder capacity on the yet-to-be launched GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A. Under this, along with the transponders, Devas Multimedia gets access to about 70 Mhz of spectrum in the 2500 Mhz band. Devas Multimedia is planning to launch broadband services through a combination of satellite and terrestrial networks.
  • Devas Multimedia will pay $40 million as pre-launch capacity reservation and $250 million for satellite capacity lease payments. ISRO/Antrix has a representative on the Devas Multimedia board of directors. The two will share revenue once services start. The exact revenue share is not known. The company plans to invest $500 million to $750 million once the service is launched.
  • But it may have to acquire additional licences such as that for Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) in order to offer satellite-based services