Hughes Communications today announced bagging a contract from State of India (SBI) to connect the company’s ATMs through VSAT. The contract is valued at Rs 22.5 crore and spread over a period of five years. The contract is for 2880 VSATs to connect 3000 ATMs.

As part of the deal, Hughes will offer system integration, satellite bandwidth and network management services to SBI. The VSAT connectivity will also provide a backhaul connection to the Bank’s Data Centre and Disaster Recovery locations. Hughes will additionally provide connectivity to kiosk machines allowing SBI customers to not only know their bank account details but also to book Railway tickets.

Speaking about the deal, Mr. Shivaji Chatterjee,Vice President, Enterprise- Hughes Communications India, said, “We are pleased to strengthen our longstanding relationship with State Bank of India from providing connectivity for their CBS branches/kiosks to extend its ATM network across the country, today. Satellite Broadband has been the backbone of connectivity for the Indian banking industry and Hughes is proud to have connected more than 6500 CBS branches and approx 4500 ATMs/Kiosk for various banks in the country using this technology. After completion of this project, total banking sites of Hughes would be touching 15000.”