Hughes Communications India Ltd. (HCIL), a subsidiary of Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), the world leader in broadband satellite networks and services, has bagged Rs. 200 Crore (USD 36 Million) contracts for  connecting  27,000 offsite ATMs with a secure broadband satellite network over the next two years and provide managed network services for various public sector banks.

The contracts were awarded by eight Managed Service Providers (MSPs), namely, Accura Infotech, AGS Transact Technologies, EPS, FIS Global, Financial Software and Systems, MphasiS, NCR, and Tata Communications Banking Infra Solutions.

The Hughes win is part of one of the largest outsourcing deals in the financial sector, under which the Ministry of Finance and a consortium of all the public sector banks of India have contracted with nine different MSPs to install and manage a total of 63,000 off-site and on-site ATMs across urban and rural India.  The MSPs were chosen through a series of reverse auctions for sixteen different circles, conducted by six lead banks, namely, State Bank of India, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank Of Baroda, Union Bank of India, and Canara Bank. India currently has approximately 100,000 ATMs and this initiative is expected to increase the ATM density by over 60 percent, thus helping meet the goals of Financial Inclusion and delivery of    e-Government services to citizens directly.

Partho Banerjee, president and managing director at HCIL, said, “The Indian ATM industry is growing at an exponential rate, and this project will bring much-needed banking services to consumers and businesses across the country. It confirms the undisputed leadership of Hughes in the banking and POS/ATM/retail sectors employing satellite networking, which has become the backbone of connectivity for the Indian banking industry. Upon completion it will bring our total managed sites to over 60,000, providing secure satellite connectivity with uptimes of greater than 99.9% and enabling 24x7 banking services.” 

Hughes will install and operate its advanced HN9200 and HN9400 satellite broadband terminals at ATM sites and provide managed services on a 24x7 basis through its shared NetworkOperations Centre (NOC), including end-to-end IPSec security and satellite bandwidth. HCIL is also providing an MPLS backbone network connecting all participating banks and MSPs from the ATM sites to the data centres and disaster recovery centres of all the PSU banks.