Hughes Network to focus on satellite broadband market

Hughes Network Systems has announced its decision to divest its stake in Hughes Tele.com India to Tata Teleservices. Speaking about the decision to divest its stake in Hughes Tele.com in favor of the Tatas, Pradman Kaul, Chairman & CEO, Hughes Network Systems said, "Given the industry's move towards consolidation, Hughes's decision to divest has been made in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders. India continues to remain a critical and an important part of Hughes's global business plans. Hughes has already announced its plan for rolling out state-of-the-art satellite broadband access and applications solutions in India. We expect to significantly grow our operations in India" 

Hughes reiterated its decision to focus on the satellite broadband communications market in India. This is in line with the company's global focus to consolidate its leadership position in the satellite communications space through its DirecWay platform - and the SpaceWay project. 

Hughes had announced the launch of its nation-wide DirecWay satellite broadband services in India in March 2002, as well as the establishment of the SpaceWay software applications development centre in Bangalore. Currently, Hughes provides satellite broadband services to 39 of India's top 50 brands and has now begun to reach out to the
SME/SOHO segment.

With the launch of DirecWay, customers will have access to a comprehensive, one-stop shop broadband solution - right from hardware, to broadband Internet access and applications such as education, SCM, ERP, Data Centre and Telemedicine solutions. 

Further, Hughes has already announced its next-generation satellite based broadband project - SpaceWay. The launch of the first SpaceWay satellite access and services platform is scheduled for early 2003 in North America - at an investment of $ 1.2 billion. The SpaceWay service is expected to be launched in Asia in 2004 at an additional investment of $ 800 million.