A residential street in Guatape, Colombia. Photo: Pixabay.

Hughes Network Systems launched its HughesNet high-speed satellite internet service in Colombia on Sept. 28, marking the company’s second international deployment of the service outside North America after Brazil. Operating over the EchoStar 19 High Throughput Satellite (HTS) — which offers more than 200 Gbps of capacity — HughesNet service coverage reaches 75 percent of Colombia’s population, bringing broadband internet access to consumers and businesses either unserved or underserved by terrestrial broadband, according to the company.

“Colombia has many of the same market dynamics as in Brazil, primarily large untapped demand for high-speed internet access in areas either unserved or underserved by terrestrial internet providers,” said Pradman Kaul, president of Hughes. According to Kaul, Hughes hopes to address the digital divide by enabling more affordable internet access.

The latest generation of the Hughes Jupiter System powers the HughesNet Colombia service, employing the Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite-Second Generation Extension (DVB-S2X) standard for efficient use of satellite bandwidth.