Hughes Communications
| Subsidiary | |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Headquarters | Germantown, Maryland, United States |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Pradman Kaul (Chairman, President and CEO) |
| Services | Global communications |
| Revenue |
 US$ 257.45 million (2010)
|
| US$ 85.62 million (2010) |
|
|
US$22.79 million (2010)
|
|
| Total assets |
US$1.363 billion (2010)
|
| Total equity |
US$340.0 million (2010)
|
|
Number of employees
|
2,254 (December 2010) |
| Parent | EchoStar (2011–present) |
| Subsidiaries | Hughes Network Systems← |
| Website | Hughes.com |
Hughes Communications is a provider of satellite-based communications services. The company operates its satellite business through its wholly owned subsidiary, Hughes Network Systems LLC.
In 2011, Hughes was acquired by EchoStar in a deal valued at US$1.3 billion.
Hughes employs 1,900 people worldwide, including 1,200 in Maryland. Other major locations are in India, Nevada and Germany, according to a regulatory filing.
In 1971, the company Hughes Network Systems was founded as Digital Communication Corp of Rockville, Maryland by eight investors most of whom were alumni of Comsat Laboratories. The group was led by John Puente and Dr. Burton Edelson. The first employee was Gene Gabbard, the second was Andy Werth. The company started with $40,000 in investment from the founders. The first contract was a consulting contract for Telesat on a TDMA transmission system via satellite. NEC, led by Tadahiro Sekimoto who had spent two years at Comsat, signed the second contract with DCC and invested one million dollars. DCC later went on to build the first commercial TDMA system for Telesat Canada.
DCC was privately held until the late 1970s when it was acquired by Microwave Associates. The combined company name was changed to be M/A-Com. DCC went through a number of name changes and later became M/A-Com Telecommunication Inc. It entered the VSAT market in 1985 supplying VSATs to Schlumberger and a number of other enterprise customers such as Walmart, Holiday Inn, Chrysler, and General Motors.
The M/A-Com Telecommunication was sold to Hughes Aircraft Company in 1987. Hughes Aircraft was then owned by General Motors, because it had acquired it in 1985 after the death of Howard Hughes.
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Wikipedia