Hughes Launches Consumer Satellite Internet Service in Colombia

HughesNet® High-Speed Satellite Internet Service Reaches 75 percent of Population in South America's Second Largest Country

News provided by

Hughes Network Systems, LLC

Oct 02, 2017, 07:00 ET

GERMANTOWN, Md., Oct. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), the global leader in broadband satellite solutions and services, today announced the launch of HughesNet® high-speed satellite Internet service in Colombia beginning on September 28, the company's second international deployment of its award-winning consumer service beyond North America.

Operating over the EchoStar XIX high-throughput satellite (HTS)—with the world's highest capacity at over 200 Gbps—HughesNet service coverage reaches 75 percent of Colombia's population, bringing the many benefits of affordable broadband Internet access to consumers and businesses either unserved or underserved by terrestrial broadband.

Hughes pioneered satellite Internet service for the mass market and this launch in Colombia builds upon its successful operations in North America and Brazil – with, to date, over 1 million subscribers, making it the world's largest high-speed satellite network. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently rated HughesNet as #1 among all U.S. broadband providers, including both terrestrial and satellite, for delivering on advertised speeds. With this launch, HughesNet service is available now to more than 214 million people in South America.

"Colombia has many of the same market dynamics as in Brazil, primarily large untapped demand for high-speed Internet access in areas either unserved or underserved by terrestrial Internet providers," said Pradman Kaul, president of Hughes. "We are now expanding our proven delivery and support infrastructure to Colombia under our successful business model to close the digital divide – bringing people a range of high-speed Internet plans to suit every budget, no matter where they live or work."

"Colombia is a key market in extending our footprint across the Americas," said Vinod Jain, vice president of Hughes. "HughesNet in Colombia will bring consumers and businesses choices of attractive service plans, offering download speeds up to 30 Mbps, enabling customers to do more online than ever before, including email, online shopping, downloading music and video, using social media and browsing the web."

HughesNet Colombia service is powered by the latest generation of the Hughes JUPITER™ System, the world's most widely deployed satellite network platform and one of the first to employ the DVB-S2x standard for highly efficient use of satellite bandwidth.

For more information about HughesNet Colombia, please visit www.hughesnet.com.co.

About Hughes de Colombia
Hughes de Colombia (HdC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Network System, LLC. HdC, headquartered in Bogota, obtained its Service License earlier this year to offer Internet Service to consumers and small businesses in Colombia. For additional information about HdC, please visit www.hughesnet.com.co. Launched on March 16, 2017 as the latest generation of its successful consumer offering introduced nearly 20 years ago, HughesNet Gen5 is the first and only U.S. satellite Internet service to deliver FCC-defined broadband speeds from coast to coast, and is now also being deployed in Brazil and other countries in the Americas.

About Hughes Network Systems
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) is the global leader in broadband satellite technology and services for home and office. Its flagship high-speed satellite Internet service is HughesNet^®, the world's largest satellite network with over 1 million residential and business customers across North America and Brazil. For large enterprises and governments, the company's HughesON^® managed network services provide complete connectivity solutions employing an optimized mix of satellite and terrestrial technologies. The JUPITER™ System is the world's most widely deployed High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) platform, operating on more than 20 satellites by leading service providers, delivering a wide range of broadband enterprise, mobility and cellular backhaul applications. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 6 million terminals to customers in over 100 countries, representing approximately 50 percent market share, and its technology is powering broadband services to aircraft around the world.

Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes operates sales and support offices worldwide, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), a premier global provider of satellite operations. For additional information about Hughes, please visit www.hughes.com and follow @Hughes_Corp on Twitter.

About EchoStar
EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) is a premier global provider of satellite communication solutions. Headquartered in Englewood, Colo., and conducting business around the globe, EchoStar is a pioneer in secure communications technologies through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments. For more information, visit echostar.com. Follow @EchoStar on Twitter.

SOURCE Hughes Network Systems, LLC