Hughes Communications commands 52% of the Indian VSAT industry

According to a report by Voice and Data Magazine, Hughes Communications India currently leads the VSAT industry in India, having reportedly achieved a 52% market share in FY12.

The Voice and Data report stated that Hughes registered an 18.4% year-over-year revenue growth for FY12. The company's VSAT services achieved Rs 167 crore of total revenue. In comparison, during FY11, Hughes earned Rs 141 crore in total revenue.

Hughes also deployed 25.4% more VSAT terminals compared to last year. Voice and Data Magazine noted that Hughes installed 11,303 VSATs installations during FY12. That accounts for 52% of the total VSAT systems in India.

Hughes secured a number of large contracts with Indian companies this FY12. It will be creating 2,000 site network for State Bank of India, provide broadband satellite services to link 825 locations for Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam in Rajasthan, and will deploy a network of 713 sites on behalf of a quintet of Karnatakan utility companies. The Rajasthan contract will take place over 3 years, while the Karnataka agreement will be for 5 years.

In addition, Hughes also got an order from ‘Brown Label’ to set up around 5,000 satellite terminals at ATM service providers across the Indian subcontinent.

“The Voice and Data report is testimony to Hughes overall leadership in the Indian VSAT industry,” said Partho Banerjee, president and managing director of HCIL. “Our growth has been led by significant business wins across the banking and financial services industries and government projects. We are very proud to be the flag bearers of the Indian VSAT industry," he continued, "and look forward to maintaining this lead in the future.”

The Voice and Data Magazine report stated that VSAT deployments increased by nearly 6% in FY12, leading to market growth of 6.2%. That raised the industry's overall revenue to INR 500 crore.

The VSAT industry also experienced several highlights in FY 12. The Ka-band spectrum (18-28 Ghz) was used for the first time to provide high-capacity, high-speed bandwidth- and just in time, as on-the-move mobility applications for voice and video that could take advantage of the new frequencies became available.

White label and managed service providers also began wide-scale adoption of VSAT terminals for use with ATMs. Enhanced VSAT CPEs were developed for security and routing and dual hubs were now used to generate multi-service integration business continuity.