SkyTerra Communications Inc. completed the acquisition of a 50 percent interest in Hughes Network Systems LLC (HNS) from The DirecTV Group for $50 million in cash and 300,000 shares of SkyTerra common stock, SkyTerra said.

SkyTerra will manage the venture, with DirecTV retaining a 50 percent stake in HNS. As part of the transaction, HNS will own the Spaceway 3 Ka-band broadband communications satellite being manufactured by Boeing. Also included in the deal are the ground infrastructure and user terminals developed to implement Spaceway 3’s communications network.

Spaceway 3 is expected to enable HNS to provide North American customers with a next generation suite of high-speed, two-way data communications in a more cost-effective manner.

“With the completion of the transaction, we start an exciting new chapter in the history of our company,” HNS Chairman and CEO Pradman Kaul said in a prepared statement.

SkyTerra President and CEO Jeffrey Leddy spoke with sister publication Satellite News regarding this transaction when it was initially announced last December. For more information on this transaction, please read the Dec. 13, 2004 issue of Satellite News. For more information about subscribing to Access Intelligence’s satellite industry news and information products, please visit us on the Web at https://www.satellitetoday.com.