Hughes Communications Brings Satellite Internet to Rural Areas
September 14th, 2007 by Karen Mortensen
Hughes Communications is about to make my life so much easier. Let me explain. My mom lives in rural Northwest Washington state, where the biggest development each time I visit is the location of the newest clear-cut. It’s rural. Very, very rural. My normally timid retired mother has learned to drive like a bat out of heck on roads that curve violently around the hills and mountains. When I’m with her in the car, I clutch the door frame and pray.
Yet when it comes to Internet service at her house, it’s always been dial-up…excruciatingly slow dial-up. Nothing else was available. (No broadband provider was crazy enough to string a cable from her clutch of homes to the nearest small city, 35 miles away.) I love my mom, but dial-up makes me want to scratch out my eyes.
Behold, the coming of Hughes Communications to her forested neighborhood. Based in Germantown, Maryland, Hughes provides just the type of services my mom desperately needs: Internet service via satellite to rural areas where other broadband options aren’t available. She’d been talking generically about satellite for a while, but then it happened. We were chatting on the phone this week, and suddenly she said to me, “Well, we got HughesNet up and running.”
“Wait,” I say, “You mean, you really got satellite Internet? Finally? I can send you big files—with pictures, and videos, and…” I continued to sputter in excitement. And anything larger than 48K, I’m thinking to myself. Geez, her old system was so slow. And now when I visit her little paradise near the Pacific Ocean, I can enjoy the same high-speed luxury as when I’m ensconced in my suburban DC office. Now you understand why I am worshiping Hughes Communications like a forbidden idol.
Providing broadband service to consumers like my mom as well as small businesses is, in fact, the firm’s fastest-growing segment. Currently, however, it derives most of its revenue by managing satellite networks for national companies with a multitude of locations and providing government services.
Hughes’s growth since its founding in 1971 has led it to be the 35th largest public company in the greater DC region, according to The Post 200, a report published by The Washington Post. That’s based on 2006 revenues, which totaled $858.7 million. The company moved successfully to the Nasdaq in 2006 after going through a change in ownership.
Hughes announced three executive appointments to its board in June of this year. All hold the title of director:
- Stephen Clark—venture partner with Intersouth Partners
- O. Gene Gabbard—private investor; telecom industry
- Lawrence Ruisi—advisory consultant; entertainment industry
Pradman Kaul is president and CEO of Hughes Communications, as well as chairman and CEO of Hughes Network Systems, its operational subsidiary. Grant Barber serves as the executive vice president and CFO for both organizations.
Now…do you think they’d like to visit the “other” Washington? I could take them on a tour of the newest and greatest clear-cuts. Then we could all get online in my mom’s living room and actually watch a streaming video. Amazing…
Related posts:
- iDirect Partners With Intelsat to Launch Satellite-Based Internet
- CFO Steve Hughes Departs SRA International
- FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski: “Consumers Need to Make the Internet Work.”
- Kay Sears, President of Intelsat General, on the commercial satellite industry
- Jack Hughes, formerly CFO of Alion Science, discusses the future
That is good news for her…It sucks that she has to pay more but it sure beats having dial up out there…I hope it gets even cheaper for HughesNet customers…
Yes, I too have been frustrated by the speed vs. cost deals my local cable company forces me to choose from. With the monopolies these companies hold over areas though there isn’t too much you or anyone else can do besides go back to dial up and never view a website in under 1 hour again.
Seriously though you can always look into one of the several 2 way satellite internet providers. Though satellite doesn’t get much attention these days, at least as far as internet connectivity goes the service they offer is just as fast and often more reliable and properly priced when compared to a majority of cable companies. I’ve used a satellite connection at various points within the past few years and none of them ever gave me any hassle, price wise or reliability wise.
Don’t get too overly enthused about Hughes satellite internet. You will not be able to download large files as you do with your DSL or cable service. When you need service you will also be dealing with someone in India that may or may not be understood on the telephone. Like so many companies that have gone off shore for service and manufacturing, Hughes like some others does not care that much about their customers needs or wishes. I also live in Washington state were there is no DSL or cable and have been using their service for about 6 years now. I had two systems, one at my Washington home and one at my vacation home in the South were I spend about 5 months out of the year. I’ve now dumped both systems for lack of customer care and would personally like to give Mr. Kaul lessons on how his people should be treating their customers.
Don’t get too overly enthused about Hughes satellite internet. You will not be able to download large files as you do with your DSL or cable service. When you need service you will also be dealing with someone in India that may or may not be understood on the telephone. Like so many companies that have gone off shore for service and manufacturing, Hughes like some others does not care that much about their customers needs or wishes. I also live in Washington state were there is no DSL or cable and have been using their service for about 6 years now. I had two systems, one at my Washington home and one at my vacation home in the South were I spend about 5 months out of the year. I’ve now dumped both systems for lack of customer care and would personally like to give Mr. Kaul lessons on how his people should be treating their customers
It’s been awhile since I looked into any ISP options since there’s really only one choice in my city (cable, of course). In terms of rural internet, though, I would imagine that satellite internet providers are pretty much the only game available, since every other method requires massive investments in infrastructure. When I was looking at getting a similar service a few years back, the only option was a 1-way satellite, where all uploads were done over a conventional modem. Obviously, the current options from Hughes are far more viable, either in city or out in the country.
what about HNS Services in usa.