Posted: Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 6:37 AM ET (1137 GMT)
EchoStar announced Monday it had reached a deal to acquire satellite operator Hughes Communications for a total price of about $2 billion. Under the deal would buy Hughes at a price of $60.70 per share, valuing the company at a little over $1.3 billion, with refinancing of Hughes debt bringing to total deal value to about $2 billion. Hughes is best known as a provider of satellite broadband, operating the Spaceway 3 satellite and planning a larger satellite, Jupiter, scheduled for launch next year. Hughes is the second satellite operator EchoStar has purchased in under a month, after acquiring DBSD North America (formerly ICO North America) earlier this month. Hughes's share price had soared in the last month after speculation that the company was for sale.

Related Links:

•  Space News article
•  Bloomberg News article
•  The Gazette (Maryland) article
•  New York Times article
•  EchoStar press release