GERMANTOWN, MD -- Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services, today announced the deployment of 1,300 satellite-enabled Community Wi-Fi Hotspots across Russia by longtime service provider customers AltegroSky Group of Companies and KB Iskra. With an average of 250 people having access to each of the Home/SMB hotspots, the providers will reach over 300,000 people in the Far East, Siberia, Central, Ural and Caspian/Volga regions, where Internet access was previously unavailable or unaffordable. Both KB Iskra and AltegroSky are leading satellite communications operators in the Russian market and have delivered a wide range of broadband services utilizing Hughes systems for over a decade, including over Wi-Fi hotspots.

The Community Wi-Fi solution offers a cost-effective path to extend Internet service in areas where terrestrial broadband is unavailable or unaffordable, employing industry standard 802.11 Wi-Fi access points combined with a shared VSAT terminal for cost-effective satellite backhaul. This approach yields an affordable neighborhood service where any user can access the Internet with a Wi-Fi capable handheld or laptop, and requires substantially less capex per household than a traditional broadband deployment. Homeowners pay a monthly or even seasonal subscription fee to the operator to have Internet access in their homes.

The Hughes Community Wi-Fi solution leverages the Hughes JUPITER™ System, the next generation VSAT platform designed and optimized for broadband services, and currently enables more than 32,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia and Russia, with trials underway in other countries to help bridge the digital divide.

Hughes Network Systems