4-6-06 Hughes CEO Honored by Maryland Hi-Tech Council

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hughes CEO Honored by Maryland Hi-Tech Council

Pradman Kaul Named Executive of the Year at Annual Dinner and Tech Awards Celebration

Germantown, Md., April 6, 2006—Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite network solutions and services, today announced that Hughes Chairman and CEO, Pradman Kaul, was named Executive of the Year by the Tech Council of Maryland (TCM) at their annual dinner and tech awards celebration, held April 5 at the Bethesda North Conference Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

The TCM Tech Awards annually honor the technology companies that stand above the rest, and executives who have made outstanding contributions to their companies and their communities. The criteria for the Executive of the Year award include: an outstanding leader, an integral part of the firm’s growth and/or profitability, skilled at taking calculated risks and succeeding, and a leader in the Maryland technology community.

Mr. Kaul has been CEO of Hughes since 2000, and joined early in its beginnings as Digital Communications Corporation, a 1971 startup in a Maryland garage. Under his leadership, Hughes has consistently maintained global market share dominance of over 55 percent, providing broadband satellite networks and services to major enterprise, government, consumer and small business customers. Since the inception of the satellite networks business in 1983 when Hughes invented the VSAT (very small aperture terminal), it has shipped over 1 million systems to customers in more than 100 countries, with over 275,000 consumer subscribers in the US.

Mr. Kaul spearheaded the development and growth of satellite networks for commercial applications globally and is widely recognized for contributions in both business and technology spheres. Building on its success in delivering satellite networks to major enterprise customers, such as WalMart and Exxon Mobil, the Hughes team then carried their expertise into the consumer realm. They introduced the first two-way broadband Internet access service for consumers and small businesses in the late nineties, and this segment is now adding over 10,000 new subscribers per month, all delivered out of the headquarters and network operations facility in Germantown, Maryland. In addition, Kaul and his team developed and manufactured a range of high-quality DIRECTV digital television set-top boxes, eventually shipping 15 million.

Mr. Kaul has a distinguished academic record and actively supports educational and professional organizations. He is the holder of numerous patents that have been instrumental to the company’s success and to the advancement of the satellite industry.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University and an MSEE from the University of California at Berkeley, who selected him as “Distinguished Engineering Alumnus” in 1999. Awarded the IEEE Third Millennium medal in 2000, Mr. Kaul subsequently was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2004. He is a member of the National Advisory Council of George Washington University.

Mr. Kaul serves on several additional boards including boards of directors of Tata Teleservices Maharashtra, Ltd., Primus Telecom, and Optimos, Inc. He is chairman of the Maryland India Business Round Table and senior director of Stonebridge International.

About The Tech Council of Maryland
The Tech Council of Maryland's mission is to serve as the preeminent technology think tank where executives discuss ideas, innovate, and solve technology issues that lead to bigger business. Tech Council of Maryland members are from industry, government, academia and the service provider industry and provide environment where technology companies meet, learn and collaborate and to be Maryland's best technology networking organization. The Tech council has more than 500 member companies representing more than 200,000 forward thinkers throughout the state.

The Tech Council of Maryland is supported in part by a grant from Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED).

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. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 1 million systems to customers in over 100 countries. Its broadband satellite products are based on the IPoS (IP over Satellite) global standard, approved by the TIA, ETSI, and ITU standards organizations.

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. (OTCBB:HGCM). For additional information, please visit www.hughes.com.

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