Hughesnet Business Description

In 1971, the company Hughes Network Systems was founded as Digital Communication Corp of Rockville, Maryland by eight investors most of whom were alumni of Comsat Laboratories. The group was led by John Puente. The first employee was Gene Gabbard. The first contract was a consulting contract for Telesat on a TDMA transmission system via satellite. DCC later went on to build the first commercial TDMA system for Telesat Canada.

DCC was privately held until the late 1970s when it was acquired by Microwave Associates. The combined company name was changed to be M/A-Com. DCC went through a number of name changes and later became M/A-Com Telecommunication Inc. It entered the VSAT market in 1985 supplying VSATs to Schlumberger and a number of other enterprise customers such as Walmart, Holiday Inn, Chrysler, and General Motors.

The M/A-Com Telecommunication was sold to Hughes Aircraft in 1987. Hughes Aircraft Company was then owned by General Motors because it had acquired it in 1985 after the death of Howard Hughes.

By 1996 the Hughes Network Systems division had $1.1 billion in revenue and 2,200 employees. In January 2004, Murdoch's group, News Corp., bought a controlling interest in Hughes Electronics for $6.5 billion, primarily for Hughes's DirecTV satellite television unit.

In 2005, DirecTV Group Inc., the satellite television company owned by Rupert Murdoch, sold the remaining stake in Germantown, Maryland-based Hughes Network Systems Inc. to the holding company of a New York private equity firm for $100 million in cash. Once the deal was complete, Hughes Network Systems became a wholly owned subsidiary of SkyTerra Communications Inc. SkyTerra created the subsidiary Hughes Communications to hold the company Hughes Network Systems.

In 2006 in February, Hughes Communications was spun off as a separate company with SkyTerra divesting its entire stake in the company to its shareholders.

In 2011, EchoStar Corp. agreed to buy parent Hughes Communications of Germantown in a deal worth about $2 billion, comprising stock and debt assumption.

HughesNet has a 24-month contract period. There are high cancellation fees if the contract is ended early. At the end of service, the equipment has to be returned. HughesNet will send instructions on how to de-install equipment, but a third-party technician will do it for you for a fee determined by the technician.

About Hughes Network Systems

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes) is the world’s leading provider of satellite broadband for home and office, delivering innovative network technologies, managed services, and solutions for enterprises and governments globally. HughesNet is the #1 high-speed satellite Internet service in the marketplace, with offerings to suit every budget. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 4 million systems to customers in over 100 countries, representing approximately 50 percent market share. Its products employ global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU organizations, including IPoS/DVB-S2, RSM-A, and GMR-1.

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 and digital TV solutions.