[SatNews] Hughes Communications India, Ltd. (HCIL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), has signed two significant managed network services contracts with major Indian public sector banks.

The first contract award is from Allahabad Bank valued at Rs. 40 crores (US$9 million), under which Hughes will provide broadband services connecting 1,400 locations with satellite terminals and 1,000 with terrestrial MPLS links. The second contract, valued at Rs. 12.5 crores (US$3 million), was awarded by the Central Bank of India to deploy a network of 1,955 satellite terminals.

Allahabad Bank plans to use the satellite and MPLS network to launch Phase II of its core banking solution in both urban and rural branches. The mandate for the Central Bank of India is to expand its core banking solution to all its rural branches. HCIL is the leading provider of satellite broadband solutions in the Indian financial sector with more than 23 nationalized and private banks in India as customers. To date, HCIL provides managed network services to 17,000 plus branch and ATM locations across India. Major customers include the largest of Indian banks ― State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and others. HCIL also built and operated “INFINET”―the Indian Financial Network of 3,000 plus locations across all banks, facilitated by the Reserve Bank of India.