PALO ALTO, Calif. & GERMANTOWN, Md. – May 14, 2012 – Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), the world’s leading provider of commercial satellites, today announced that the EchoStar XVII satellite, designed and built for Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), a wholly owned subsidiary ofEchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), has arrived at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle by Arianespace.  One of the highest capacity satellites ever built, EchoStar XVII will be used to provide HughesNet® Gen4 high-speed Internet service in North America. 

“Broadband access is essential for participation in today’s Internet economy,” said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral. “It has been our privilege to team with Hughes and apply our four decades of experience with Ka-band satellites to help make their vision of expanded high-speed satellite Internet access across North America a reality.”  

EchoStar XVII, with JUPITER high-throughput technology, is an all Ka-band, broadband satellite designed to provide well in excess of 100 gigabits per second capacity to HughesNet’s rapidly growing subscriber base.  Its multi-spot beam architecture will expand coverage and focus capacity on the areas with the highest traffic demand for enhanced services by consumers and businesses in North America.

“EchoStar XVII will bring HughesNet Gen4 high-speed Internet access to over 1.5 million consumer and small business subscribers, further securing our position as the world’s leading provider of satellite broadband services,” said Pradman Kaul, president of Hughes. “Space Systems/Loral has been an excellent partner in building this complex spacecraft and we are very excited to see it launch next month.”

Based on the highly reliable Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform, EchoStar XVII is designed to provide service for 15 years or longer.   The satellite will be the fourth dedicated broadband satellite built by SS/L to orbit the earth.

About Hughes Network Systems

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes) is the world’s leading provider of satellite broadband for home and office, delivering innovative network technologies, managed services, and solutions for enterprises and governments globally. HughesNet is the #1 high-speed satellite Internet service in the marketplace, with offerings to suit every budget. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 2.8 million systems to customers in over 100 countries, representing over 50 percent market share. Its products employ global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU organizations, including IPoS/DVB-S2, RSM-A, and GMR-1.

Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes operates sales and support offices worldwide, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), a premier global provider of satellite operations and digital TV solutions. For additional information about Hughes, please visit www.hughes.com.

About Space Systems/Loral

Space Systems/Loral, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications (NASDAQ: LORL), has a long history of delivering reliable satellites and spacecraft systems for commercial and government customers around the world. As the world’s leading provider of commercial satellites, the company works closely with satellite operators to provide spacecraft for a broad range of services including television and radio distribution, digital audio radio, broadband Internet, and mobile communications. Billions of people around the world depend on SS/L satellites every day. For more information, visit www.ssloral.com.

About Loral Space & Communications

Loral Space & Communications is a satellite communications company. Through its Space Systems/Loral subsidiary, the company is a world-class leader in the design and manufacture of satellites and satellite systems for commercial and government applications including direct-to-home television, broadband communications, wireless telephony, weather monitoring, and air traffic management. Loral also owns 64 percent of Telesat, one of the world’s largest providers of satellite services. Telesat operates a fleet of telecommunications satellites used to broadcast video entertainment programming, distribute direct-to-home video and broadband data services, and other value-added communications services. For more information, visit Loral’s Web site at www.loral.com. 

The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) is the system interface to the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) service that wireless carriers are rolling out across the nation in 2012. CMAS is a partnership between FEMA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and wireless carriers, to enhance public safety. The rules for CMAS are published by the FCC at 47 CFR 10.

CMAS allows public safety authorities to use FEMA’s IPAWS Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN) to send geographically targeted, text-like Wireless Emergency Alerts to the public. WEAs will relay Presidential, AMBER, and Imminent Threat alerts to mobile phones using cell broadcast technology that will not get backlogged during times of emergency when wireless voice and data services are highly congested.

Who sends CMAS/WEA alerts?

Most CMAS/WEA alerts will be issued by NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS).  The NWS can send weather-related alerts to any region in the country.  CMAS will be used by the NWS only for the most imminent and severe weather conditions (e.g. tornado warnings).

Imminent Threat alerts may be issued by state and local officials who have completed a four-step application process and executed a Memorandum of Agreement with FEMA governing system security.  Alerts must meet certain criteria that are established in the FCC rules to ensure that only the most urgent messages are sent over CMAS.  More information on the application process may be found on the Alert Origination web page. For a list of state and local jurisdictions who have applied for IPAWS access, see the Authorized IPAWS Localities web page.

CMAS/WEA complements the existing Emergency Alert System (EAS) which sends warnings to television and radio via broadcast, cable, satellite, and wireline communications pathways.Who receives WEA messages?IPAWS CMAS is operational now and all major cell carriers, as well as hundreds of smaller carriers, are participating in CMAS on a voluntary basis. For a list of participating carriers, see the current FCC Registry file. As with all new cellular services, it will take time for upgrades in infrastructure, coverage, and handset technology to allow CMAS/WEA alerts to reach all cellular customers.

Wireless carriers are currently selling mobile devices with CMAS/WEA capability included. While not all handsets now on the market are capable of receiving WEAs, some phones may be upgradeable and it is anticipated that most commercially available phones will be WEA-capable by the end of 2014. Lists of CMAS/WEA-capable handsets are available from the individual wireless carriers, and many carriers have made their lists available on one website located at www.ctia.org/WEA.

Customers of participating wireless carriers with CMAS/WEA-capable phones will not need to sign up to receive the alerts and should automatically receive WEAs in the event of an emergency, if they are located in, or travel to the affected geographic area. Wireless customers are not charged for the delivery of Wireless Emergency Alerts. 

What does a WEA look like on a mobile phone?

WEAs use a unique ring tone and vibration to signal that an alert has arrived.  The unique vibration, which distinguishes the alert from a regular text message, is particularly helpful to people with hearing or vision-related disabilities.  Alerts will automatically “pop up” on the mobile device screen and will be limited to 90 characters.

WEAs will not preempt calls in progress.  In addition, individuals will be able to opt-out of Imminent Threat or AMBER alerts.  Individuals will not be able to opt-out of Presidential alerts.

What should I do if I get a WEA?

Due to the 90 character limit, alerts will contain only basic information.  In most cases the alert will only indicate the type of event (e.g. tornado), the time until the alert expires, and recommended action.  To get more specific information, the best response is to check other sources of information, including radio or television, to see if there is a corresponding Emergency Alert System (EAS) message with additional details and/or local news coverage of the event. 

How does a CMAS/WEA alert reach a mobile device?

CMAS/WEA alerts are activated by authorized alerting authorities (generally, a local or State agency or the National Weather Service).  The alerts are targeted to specific geographic areas, generally a county. If a CMAS/WEA-capable mobile device is physically located in that area, it will automatically receive and display the message.  Every WEA has an expiration date/time and will be resent within the affected area until it expires; however, each individual wireless device will display the alert only once.  If a wireless customer travels into the affected area after the WEA was originally sent, and the alert has not expired, they will still receive the alert.

The IPAWS Architecture, including CMAS, can be found here: (PDF 132KB, TXT 2KB)

More information is available on the on IPAWS Components web page.

Will wireless customers be charged for CMAS/WEA alerts?
Wireless customers will not be charged for the receipt of WEA messages. In addition, alerting authorities will not be charged by wireless carriers for distributing CMAS/WEA alerts.

Are WEAs the same as text messages?

No, WEA are not the same as text messages. WEA will not have to be opened like SMS text messages, but will “pop up” on the device’s screen.  A key differentiator between the CMAS/WEA capability and the existing Short Message Service Point-to-Point (SMS-PP)–a one-to-one or one-to-few alerting service–is that WEA uses SMS-Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB), a one-to-many service, which simultaneously delivers messages to multiple recipients in a specified area. By using SMS-CB as the delivery technology service, WEAs avoid the congestion issues currently experienced by traditional SMS-PP alerting services, which translates into faster and more comprehensive delivery of messages during times of emergency