Hughes and Bharti Airtel Win Innovation Award for Integrated Satellite Broadband Solution in Africa

GERMANTOWN, Maryland, June 27, 2011 -

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 - Bharti Airtel utilizes Hughes broadband satellite solution
to help close the digital divide, providing Internet access, rural
telephony and GSM backhaul in Mali, West Africa

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), the global leader in
broadband satellite solutions and services, and its customer,
leading telecom company Bharti Airtel, were named as winners of the
Global Telecoms Business (GTB) Innovation Award for Satellite Voice
and Data Innovation for their African SOTELMA project. The annual
GTB Award ceremony, which took place in London earlier in June,
celebrated the most innovative and exciting projects undertaken by
operators and vendors globally, which are making a significant
difference in connecting the world.

(Logo:   href="photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110112/NE29456LOGO">photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110112/NE29456LOGO
)

Utilizing the advanced Hughes HX broadband satellite platform,
Bharti Airtel implemented a cost-effective, integrated solution for
its customer, Sotelma, an important service provider in Mali, to
offer a wide range of business services to their enterprise
customers throughout the country. The award-winning solution
enables services such as broadband Internet/Intranet access, GSM
backhaul, and rural telephony, including connectivity to the
national public switched telephone network (PSTN) in even the most
remote parts of the country.  

“We are honored to receive this award with Bharti Airtel, which
is a tribute to the hard work of all who contributed to this unique
project,” said Robert Feierbach, vice president of global sales and
marketing, International at Hughes. “Helping close the digital
divide is a worldwide imperative, and especially important in
African nations such as Mali, where our flexible HX solution sets a
new standard in enabling high quality and cost-effective broadband
services for local businesses.”  

Soheil Mehrabanzad, assistant vice president, Middle East/Africa
region at Hughes stated, “This award reflects the strong
relationship between Hughes and Bharti Airtel and how well we
worked together to deliver this important project.”    
 

For more information on the Awards, visit href="www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com/">www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com.

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 2.5 million systems to customers in over 100 countries,
representing over 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. For additional information about Hughes, please visit href="www.hughes.com/">www.hughes.com.

©2011 Hughes Network Systems, LLC. Hughes and HughesNet are
registered trademarks of Hughes Network Systems, LLC.

Judy Blake of Hughes Network Systems, +1-301-601-7330, Judy.blake at hughes.com; or Dan Tudesco of Brodeur Partners for Hughes Network Systems, +1-202-775-2657, dtudesco at brodeur.com