Hughes Sponsors Third Annual All-Russia VSAT Championship

GERMANTOWN, Md., June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services was the proud general sponsor of the 3rd Annual All-Russia VSAT 2010 Championship held June 3, organized by service providers Settelecom and Race Telecom, and held at Settelecom's Satellite Communications Center in Moscow. The official sponsor was RTComm.RU, owned by Rostelecom, the country's largest telecom operator, and the competition was supported by the Federal Communications Agency under the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation, Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC), and the Global VSAT Forum (GVF).

Regional distributors from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Penza, Kaluga, Voronezh and the Republic of Tartarstan provided ten teams of two certified engineers per team, who competed to fully assemble and install VSAT equipment, including antenna pointing and cabling. A new record in Russia of high-speed VSAT installation was established -- 8 minutes and 42 seconds -- by the winning team of Oleg Gorshkov and Andrey Evmenenko from Kaluga, the "Polluks." The prizes included Hughes VSAT terminals and free annual broadband Internet access and technical support. In addition, the GVF offered the winners training courses on Hughes HN and HX systems, and students who complete the training session will be listed in the GVF database, which is an excellent resource for service providers seeking qualified technicians.

"The market for satellite networks is growing steadily in Russia and has been facilitated by the availability of highly skilled VSAT installation specialists, so it gives us great pleasure to be one of the sponsors of this competition," said David Hartshorn, secretary general of GVF.

Konstantin Lanin, head of the Hughes office in Moscow, presented the welcoming letter to the organizing committee and contestants of VSAT 2010 on behalf of Hartshorn. He noted that satellite technology has become an increasingly important element in the Russian telecommunications infrastructure, giving Russian individuals and enterprises access to vital applications such as Internet access, distance learning and telemedicine, and stimulating economic growth through corporate networks.

"This fun event underlies the importance of satellite technology in Russia's telecom infrastructure," said Dr. Arunas Slekys, vice president and general manager of Russia/CIS for Hughes. "Hughes continues to lead the broadband satellite market worldwide and in the Russia/CIS region, where we now have shipped almost 30,000 terminals to over 20 successful service provider partners, representing more than 50 percent market share. Russia is poised to expand into high-capacity, Ka-band satellite technology and services and Hughes is committed to help realize this exciting vision of universally available broadband."

About JSC Settelecom

JSC Settelecom (AltegroSky brand name) is a leading Russian VSAT satellite communications operator with networks operating over the Yamal, Express-AM1, and Express-AM3 satellites, providing full coverage of Russia and the CIS territory. Settelecom services include high-speed Internet access, corporate telephony, corporate networks for data transmission, telemetry, video conferencing, multicasting, and business TV; telecommunications based on mobile VSAT terminals (AltegroMobile); landline backup; dedicated satellite (backbone) channels; and leased satellite teleport resources. Settelecom is the official Russian distributor of C-Com (Canada), a supplier of automated antennas for VSAT. Currently, the AltegroSky network comprises over 4,500 VSAT terminals. For additional information, please visit www.altegrosky.ru.

About JSC Race Telecom

JSC Race Telecom (SPIN™) was established in 2004 using the LinkStar product developed by Viasat Inc. (USA). Race Telecom offers high-speed Internet access, high-quality data, voice, and facsimile transmission, videoconferencing, VPN, backup structure for corporate networks and other customer applications. For additional information, please visit www.spin.ru.

About Hughes Network Systems

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) is the global leader in providing broadband satellite networks and services for large enterprises, governments, small businesses, and consumers. HughesNet® encompasses all broadband solutions and managed services from Hughes, bridging the best of satellite and terrestrial technologies. Its broadband satellite products are based on global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU standards organizations, including IPoS/DVB-S2, RSM-A and GMR-1. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 2.2 million systems to customers in over 100 countries.

Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes maintains sales and support offices worldwide. Hughes is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: HUGH). For additional information, please visit www.hughes.com.

Hughes and HughesNet are registered trademarks of Hughes Network Systems, LLC.

SOURCE Hughes Network Systems, LLC