Hughes Named to wRatings 2009 Most Competitive Media & Telecom Companies

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Hughes Named to wRatings 2009 Most Competitive Media & Telecom Companies

Hughes Achieves Ranking of No. 2 on list of Top 20 Most Competitive Telecom Providers

Germantown, Md., May 8, 2009 — Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in satellite broadband networks and services, today announced that it has been named to wRatings Corporation's list of Most Competitive Media & Telecom Companies for 2009.

wRatings Corporation, an independent stock research firm, announced the results of their annual Most Competitive Media & Telecom Study, which was sponsored by Capgemini. Hughes achieved the number 2 ranking on the Top 20 Most Competitive Telecom Providers list, which is calculated based on measures of the highest customer and economic advantages when compared to the 1200+ companies in the wRatings national coverage.

“We are honored to be named to the list of Top 20 Most Competitive Telecom Providers of all the companies covered by wRatings,” said Pradman Kaul , chairman and CEO of Hughes.

“This is an important validation of our success in building a strong, recurring broadband service business, for which revenue now exceeds our product business and is growing at a faster rate.”

“Quality offerings, economies of scale, and a loyal customer base are what separate Hughes from their rivals,” added Gary A. Williams, founder and CEO of wRatings. “Becoming more competitive in any economy is difficult to achieve, yet Hughes has been consistently building customer strength since mid-2007 through their superior strategy and execution.”

The Most Competitive report series from wRatings identifies the best performing companies through a patented method that blends financial and customer data. To arrive at the rankings, wRatings asks customers how well companies meet their expectations every quarter. The customer ratings are categorized by 9 competitive moats that companies create to protect against rivals taking customers. Each W Score blends a company's historical economic profit with its competitive moat scores.

The 2009 edition of Most Competitive Media & Telecom companies shows a breakdown of the Top 20 in each industry, unveils critical trends in customer expectations and pricing power; and spotlights several companies from the top 20. A complimentary version of the report is available at http://www.wratings.com .

About wRatings Corporation

The wRatings Corporation is an independent stock research firm based in metro Washington, DC. The company was founded by Harvard Business Review and book author, Gary A. Williams. He and his team continually study consumer and executive buying behavior to project the future earnings performance of companies. Since 1999, their original set of leading indicators uses a common framework to measure the competitive strength of companies. For more information, visit www.wRatings.com .

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 1.9 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 .