Hughes

Hughes Introduces Broadband Backup Service

Bernie — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:25:52 -0400

Germantown, Md., October 1, 2008 — Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services, today announced the availability of HughesNet Broadband Backup service plans, the newest offerings for small- and medium-sized businesses that provide automatic satellite backup in the event of a landline failure. With HughesNet Broadband Backup, SMBs can be secure in knowing their critical applications will remain online in the event of a landline failure, protecting them against loss of data or revenue. Read More...

Hughes Launches New Broadband Portal

Bernie — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:03:40 -0400

Hughes Network Systems, LLC announced the launch of a new subscriber portal, MyHughesNet.com. The portal features access to e-mail, local news, weather, and other popular applications for HughesNet subscribers. “Launching this new portal demonstrates our commitment to continually add capabilities and features to our HughesNet service which enhance our subscribers' Internet experience,” said Mark Wymer, Hughes vice president of marketing, North America in a company statement.

Hughes Launches 5 Mbps Satellite Broadband

Bernie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:43:16 -0400

Hughes announced the launch of ElitePremium, a satellite delivered broadband service of up to 5 Mbps. In a press release, Hughes characterized ElitePremium as the “…fastest consumer broadband satellite Internet access plan ever offered.” The new service will be available August 21. ElitePremium joins other new broadband plans, including Elite and ElitePlus with download speeds of up to 2 Mbps and 3 Mbps, respectively. No official word on pricing for the new plans.

Embarq Embraces Satellite Broadband

Bernie — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:32:53 -0500

Embarq announced that they will become a reseller of HughesNet, a broadband satellite service of Hughes Network Systems. Embarq intends to target business customers with the broadband satellite service. They will offer download speeds ranging from 700 Kbps to 2Mbps and a price range of $59.99 per month to $179.99 per month. Embarq joins Wal-Mart who has also signed on to resell HughesNet. HughesNet competes mainly with WildBlue, a Colorado based satellite broadband provider. WildBlue has NRTC and AT&T as distribution partners.

Satellite broadband represents an interesting business. It targets rural areas that have limited to no broadband access. It’s priced somewhat higher than other broadband options, and generally includes significant equipment and installation costs (when compared with other broadband options). That might explain a recent report by SNL Kagan, featured in today’s Sky Report, which says satellite broadband is struggling somewhat. SNL Kagan reports that satellite broadband has only achieved a 6.2% penetration of the 10.8 million rural satellite broadband household footprint. That represents about 670K subscribers’ total. These numbers are relative though. If you talk to WildBlue, those somewhat low numbers have more to do with challenges of keeping up with demand than with a poor business model. WildBlue has had the unfortunate challenge in the past of having to selectively retard new subscriber acquisition, because their satellites (or certain "beams") have reached capacity, and simply can’t serve any new customers. It looks like they may now have some competitive company trying to meet that capacity challenge.