GERMANTOWN, Md., June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite network solutions and services, announced today that it has signed an Intellectual Property License Agreement with Microelectronics Technology, Inc. (MTI) of Taiwan, Republic of China. The agreement grants MTI rights to manufacture the highly successful, IPoS-compliant Hughes HN7000 series terminals, comprising the broadband router (indoor unit or IDU), the outdoor unit (radio or ODU) and the antenna assembly. IP over Satellite (IPoS) is the first global standard to be ratified by the world's major standards bodies; TIA in North America, and ETSI and ITU in Europe.

"Hughes is committed to open standards and is pleased to grant this license to MTI, a highly-regarded manufacturer of satellite equipment," said Pradman Kaul, chairman and CEO of Hughes. "IPoS is the only air interface specifically designed for efficient delivery of broadband satellite services and offers the best means to expand satellite's addressable market worldwide."

"MTI is proud to be the first manufacturer to license IPoS technology from Hughes. With over 900,000 units shipped to date to customers in over 100 countries, the market has clearly embraced IPoS-compliant broadband satellite terminals, confirming Hughes as the market leader," said Dr. Chi Hsieh, Vice Chairman of MTI. "We look forward to building on this record and increasing the market penetration of IPoS terminals worldwide."

IPoS is the only industry standard optimized for delivery of broadband services over satellite channels. IPoS specifies a "Satellite Independent Service Access Point" (SI-SAP), which creates a well defined interface between the satellite dependent functions and the application layers, thereby enabling an open service delivery platform. IPoS advantages are summarized as follows:

* IPoS is scalable: from a single home office to multinational customers operating hundreds or thousands of sites in a worldwide virtual private network. * IPoS is field proven: the most widely used and proven standard with more than 900,000 terminals shipped to customers in over 100 countries worldwide. * IPoS is cost effective: yields a low-cost terminal architecture that is optimized for satellite transmission and enables rapid development of "plug-and-play" applications such as VPNs, VoIP, distance learning, and video conferencing.

Added Kaul, "The IPoS standard is the most engineered, tested, and widely used in the world today. By licensing IPoS, combined with our comprehensive broadband alliance initiative, Hughes is encouraging all product and application developers, including competitors, to expand their individual and our collective satellite industry market opportunities."

About MTI

Microelectronics Technology Inc. (MTI), located in Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, Taiwan, is a high technology company specializing in wireless communications product development, manufacturing, and global sales for more than 20 years.

Based on its core competence in microwave and RF technology, MTI has established leading position in the fields of satellite ODUs (outdoor units), microwave radios, mobile base station components, and broadband wireless access products. With this excellent track record, MTI has established long term partnerships with the world's leading communication equipment providers.

For more information, please visit http://www.mti.com.tw/. 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 one 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. (BULLETIN BOARD: HGCM) . For additional information, please visit http://www.hughes.com/.

HUGHES, HUGHESNET, and IPOS are trademarks of Hughes Network Systems, LLC.

CONTACT: Judy Blake of Hughes Network Systems, LLC, +1-301-601-7330,
jblake@hns.com; or Colleen Stroh of Brodeur, +1-202-775-2648,
cstroh@brodeur.com, for Hughes Network Systems, LLC

Web site: http://www.hns.com/
http://www.hughes.com/
http://www.mti.com.tw/