Hughes Systique begins India operations

NEW DELHI: Hughes Systique, communications software systems development company headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, USA, and with its operating subsidiary in Gurgaon, India, has closed a fully funded financing with two major strategic investors to launch the company's India development centre.

The investors are NextWave Wireless LLC, a wireless broadband development company, and SkyTerra Holdings, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of SkyTerra Communications, Inc., which is a 50% owner of Hughes Network Systems, LLC.

The Hughes management will be led by Pradeep Kaul, president and CEO and Anil Sharma, executive vice president. In addition, Pradman Kaul, Chairman and CEO of Hughes Network Systems, will serve as the chairman of Hughes (non-executive).

Allen Salmasi, chairman & CEO of NextWave Wireless, said, "I have the deepest admiration for this team and the past successes they have had both in the US and in India. We expect that they will become a major supplier of sophisticated telecommunication systems in a wide range of cutting-edge applications. NextWave expects to take full advantage of their resources as an extension of its internal development resources in the emerging 4G wireless products and services arena."

Jeff Leddy, CEO of SkyTerra Communications, Inc., said "I have known the principals forming this company through our significant investment in Hughes Network Systems, a world leading supplier of equipment and services for satellite communications. We believe Hughes will provide an exceptional technology base as an outsourced development center for telecommunications software systems. We are excited by the opportunity.”

Pradman Kaul, chairman of Hughes, said "We are proud to be backed by SkyTerra and NextWave, two well financed, technology promoting companies in the US, with a focus on expanding their presence globally and especially in India. We look forward to a long-term relationship servicing their portfolio of companies and the broadband community at large. Hughes is ready to play a major role as a developer and exporter of both products and services in the global broadband wireless and wired marketplace."