S-Band deal with private company unfortunate: Antony

Defence Minister AK Antony on Thursday said it was unfortunate that Defence forces were not consulted before the controversial grant of rare S-Band spectrum to a private company. Antrix Corporation, commercial arm of nation's space research body, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), entered into an agreement with Devas Multimedia in 2005, allowing it the use of 70 MHz of the high-value S-band spectrum without inviting bids, resulting in huge revenue loss to the exchequer.