04-07-08 Hughes Initiates Commercial Service on SPACEWAY 3 Satellite
Germantown, Md., April 7, 2008 — Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services and wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGH), today announced that it successfully activated the first HughesNet® consumer subscriber for broadband Internet service utilizing its SPACEWAY™ 3 satellite on April 3rd, 2008.
“With this significant milestone, our SPACEWAY 3 satellite has officially commenced carrying revenue-bearing traffic, making Hughes a fully integrated service provider,” said Pradman Kaul, president and CEO of Hughes. “We are excited to begin delivering HughesNet broadband services over the world's first commercial satellite with on-board switching to our rapidly growing base of consumer, SMB, enterprise, and government customers throughout North America .”
Launched by Arianespace in August, 2007, SPACEWAY 3 was subsequently placed into geostationary orbit by Boeing in December, 2007, at which time Hughes assumed operational control. Extensive pre-commercial testing has been completed since then and Hughes has now achieved its goal of commencing commercial service in early 2008.
With 10 Gigabits per second of gross capacity, SPACEWAY 3 is the highest traffic-carrying satellite to be brought into service in North America . It was designed and developed as a next-generation, Ka-band broadband satellite system, and is the world's first commercial satellite to employ on-board traffic switching and routing. Combined with many other advances in satellite technology, such as dynamic beam forming, and direct small-dish-to- small-dish connectivity, SPACEWAY 3 ushers in a new world of bandwidth-on-demand HughesNet services accessed through a range of high-performance ground terminals.
About Hughes Network Systems
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) is the global leader in providing broadband satellite networks and services for large enterprises, governments, small businesses, and consumers. HughesNet encompasses all broadband solutions and managed services from Hughes, bridging the best of satellite and terrestrial technologies. Hughes has shipped more than 1.5 million systems to customers in over 100 countries. Its broadband satellite products are based on global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU standards organizations, including IPoS/DVB-S2, RSM-A and GMR-1.
Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes maintains sales and support offices worldwide. Hughes is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGH). For additional information, please visit HUGHES Home .
Germantown, Md., April 7, 2008 — Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services and wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGH), today announced that it successfully activated the first HughesNet® consumer subscriber for broadband Internet service utilizing its SPACEWAY™ 3 satellite on April 3rd, 2008.
“With this significant milestone, our SPACEWAY 3 satellite has officially commenced carrying revenue-bearing traffic, making Hughes a fully integrated service provider,” said Pradman Kaul, president and CEO of Hughes. “We are excited to begin delivering HughesNet broadband services over the world's first commercial satellite with on-board switching to our rapidly growing base of consumer, SMB, enterprise, and government customers throughout North America .”
Launched by Arianespace in August, 2007, SPACEWAY 3 was subsequently placed into geostationary orbit by Boeing in December, 2007, at which time Hughes assumed operational control. Extensive pre-commercial testing has been completed since then and Hughes has now achieved its goal of commencing commercial service in early 2008.
With 10 Gigabits per second of gross capacity, SPACEWAY 3 is the highest traffic-carrying satellite to be brought into service in North America . It was designed and developed as a next-generation, Ka-band broadband satellite system, and is the world's first commercial satellite to employ on-board traffic switching and routing. Combined with many other advances in satellite technology, such as dynamic beam forming, and direct small-dish-to- small-dish connectivity, SPACEWAY 3 ushers in a new world of bandwidth-on-demand HughesNet services accessed through a range of high-performance ground terminals.
About Hughes Network Systems
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) is the global leader in providing broadband satellite networks and services for large enterprises, governments, small businesses, and consumers. HughesNet encompasses all broadband solutions and managed services from Hughes, bridging the best of satellite and terrestrial technologies. Hughes has shipped more than 1.5 million systems to customers in over 100 countries. Its broadband satellite products are based on global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU standards organizations, including IPoS/DVB-S2, RSM-A and GMR-1.
Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes maintains sales and support offices worldwide. Hughes is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGH). For additional information, please visit HUGHES Home .
