[SatNews] With all of the policy negotiations underway in Europe, Ka-band takes center stage for this firm...

Hughes Europe, the European subsidiary of Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), will demo the viability of consumer Ka-band satellite broadband via a satellite showcase event. On Tuesday, May 24, 2011, as European politicians debate the future of broadband services throughout the European Union, Hughes Europe and fellow members of the VATM (Association of Telecommunications and Value-Added Service Providers, Germany), will hold a series of press briefings and presentations to representatives of all parties at the Embassy of Nordrhein- Westfalia in Brussels (rue Montoyer 47, B-1000, Brussels, Belgium). As part of this event, the VATM will set up a home environment with the latest in consumer electronic equipment― including television, video games, tablet computers, wireless networks, and VoIP telephone―to demonstrate that they work equally effectively over a satellite connection.

“At this critical time, if the European Commission wants to make broadband available to 100 percent of the population by the end of 2012, any solution must realistically include satellite broadband,” said Christopher Britton, managing director, Hughes Europe. “This hands-on exhibition will prove conclusively that satellite can deliver the speeds and quality required to support the latest applications and devices that are now considered essential by consumers—and it’s available everywhere, reaching the millions of households unserved or underserved by terrestrial technologies.”

This event follows a similar and highly successful Hughes Satellite Home of The Future demonstration to policymakers at the FCC and in Congress, held in late 2009 in Washington, D.C., following which the federal government established a $100M program for satellite technology as part of the $7.2B national broadband stimulus program. Hughes was awarded $58.7M of that program, the largest and only nationwide award, which enables it to offer free equipment, installation, and discounted service to qualified customers living in areas unserved by terrestrial broadband. Its success is reinforcing the company’s leadership in providing high-speed satellite Internet services, now with more than 600,000 HughesNet® consumer subscribers across the country.