Hughes Touts Satellite Broadband on Section 706 Inquiry, Criticizes 'Misinformation'

Hughes Network Systems said "facilities through which satellite-based broadband networks deliver high-quality, high-speed, affordable broadband services to anywhere in the United States, including unserved and remote regions, substantially increased in 2017 with the deployment of new, advanced high-throughput satellite systems." The EchoStar company's filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-199 on an FCC inquiry into advanced telecom capability deployment under Telecom Act Section 706 cited deployments by Hughes and ViaSat, and a Hughes partnership with OneWeb "to produce the ground network system that will support" that company's nongeostationary orbit satellite constellation. Hughes took issue with comments by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Next Century Cities that sought policies to "effectively eliminate a technology that enhances broadband competition, and thereby deny a broadband service option for many Americans."