Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) has signed Operation AC as a Value Added Reseller (VAR) of broadband satellite services focused on Afghanistan and Iraq.  Operation AC is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing goods and services to U.S. and Coalition military members and is launching a new program to subsidize broadband satellite service for soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Donations made to Operation AC SATCOM can be designated to one or more specific service members for provision of the high-speed satellite Internet service from Hughes, enabling them to stay connected to their families and friends while overseas. “We ask everyone who cares about our troops to join us with donations for this Internet subsidy program,” said Frankie Mayo, founder and president of Operation AC.  “As more U.S. troops are deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, it is important for us to partner with a U.S. company able to bring high quality satellite broadband service, including email, video chat and VoIP capabilities to our troops in these areas, helping them stay in touch with their loved ones.”

Hughes launched its expanded high-speed satellite Internet access for U.S. troops in the Middle East and Central Asia last December, delivered from the company’s new operations hub in Dubai. Operation AC was born in 2003, when Frankie Mayo first organized donations to send window air conditioners to the Army’s 300th Military Police (MP) Company in Iraq. Both her son and daughter-in-law were serving there at the time, and with temperatures approaching 140F, they and their fellow MPs needed relief at night to be rested for the mission at hand. Since then, Operation AC has sent more than 10,000 window air conditioner units and many other needed items and services to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is connecting citizens from all over the world over the Internet to adopt U.S. and coalition service members via its Virtual Carebox system.