Industry observer, Dan Rowinski, noted that Hughes Network Systems will be offering its full suite of managed network services to the federal government, “a market it had not previously felt like it was suited for, according to company officials.”

They concluded a large contract with the government in November, according to TMC’s (News - Alert) Deepika Mala, reported that “The U.S. General Services Administration selected Hughes Network Systems (News - Alert) to provide commercial satellite communications under new Schedule Item Numbers created by the GSA and Defense Intelligence Systems Agency's Future COMSATCOM Services Acquisition program.”

Hughes sells broadband coverage through the use of terrestrial DSL, “as well as satellite broadband,” Rowinski said, and “has been in the advanced wireless industry for 25 years. The company has been working on bringing its suite of products to the government for the last five years and in October was awarded a General Services Administration and Networx contract to be an option as a broadband and wireless provider.”

Mala also reported that Hughes recently signed a $115 million loan agreement with BNP Paribas and Societe Generale to finance the launch of Jupiter, its next generation, high-throughput, Ka-band satellite.

“This is a new rollout on the GSA (News - Alert) Schedule of our existing commercial services,” Rowinski reported Tony Bardo, assistant vice president for government services at Hughes, as saying, “We had initially kept it away from government because we thought that it was not our domain.”

As Mala wrote, Hughes’ November deal covers subscription services to federal, state, and local government agencies within the continental United States, which provide satellite-based Internet, voice, data, and video services; emergency response/disaster recovery voice and data networks; connectivity to the Internet via satellite services are delivered through portable satellite IP modems; and other pre-existing, pre-engineered fixed/mobile/hybrid satellite services. Hughes also will provide network management, monitoring, engineering, integration and operations necessary to deliver key services