Hughes Network Revenues Up 10%; EBITDA Increases by $18.3-M

GERMANTOWN, Md., May 16, 2006/Satnews Daily/ ¾ Hughes Communications, Inc. (Hughes) (BULLETIN BOARD: HGCM) announced on Monday its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, its first quarter as a publicly traded company. Hughes said Revenue in its wholly owned subsidiary, Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HNS), was $196.8 million in the first quarter of 2006, an increase of $18.6 million or 10% over revenues of $178.2 million in the same period in 2005.

Net income improved by $14.6 million to $0.2 million for the first quarter of 2006, compared to a loss of $14.4 million for the same period in 2005. EBITDA improved by $18.3 million to $16.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 from negative $2.1 million for the same period in 2005.

Pradman Kaul, president and CEO said, revenue growth of 10 percent over the same quarter last year combined with approximately $18 million growth in EBITDA, underscore the excellent operating results.

Kaul added the company’s financial results for the first quarter indicate that its key strategic thrusts are working well. “We continue to see revenue growth being fueled by our North America Consumer/SMB and International service businesses for the rest of 2006. The cost cutting measures that we took in 2004 and 2005 are producing the desired results as evidenced by the significant improvement in operating and net income,” he said.

Grant Barber, chief financial officer, said the company’s successful closing of $450 million of senior unsecured notes in early April allowed Hughes to retire its bank debt of $325 million. “We also had a successful rights offering of $100 million to repay the Apollo debt borrowed in connection with the purchase of the remaining 50% of HNS' equity from DirecTV in January 2006,” he said.

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