EchoStar’s Hughes Network Systems and Boost Mobile divisions tied their network assets together for a “tactical edge” trial that showed the ability to provide command and control over redundant transport links and to support broad security needs at private 5G networks operating at a pair of U.S. Navy bases. That successful trial comes as EchoStar’s operations continue to cruise toward an impending financial waterfall.

The trial used Hughes’ network orchestration, Smart Network Edge mission-planning technology, and Network Management System combined with Boost Mobile’s open radio access network (RAN) 5G network. These were used to connect a pair of private 5G networks operating at the U.S. Navy Air Station in Whidbey Island, Washington, and a base in Hawaii.

Specifically, the test was able to coordinate the Hughes and Boost Mobile network assets as transport paths to provide situational awareness. This was done by automating capacity, quality of service, and “various time/space-based resource commitments” to support the ability to switch between transport paths to the edge environments in less than five seconds.

Rajeev Gopal, VP of Advanced Programs for the Defense Division at Hughes, explained in an interview with SDxCentral that the overall transport move works toward the Department of Defense's (DoD) primary, alternate, contingency, and emergency (PACE) transport initiative.

“When you look at government mission-critical applications, they don't want to depend on a single transport or single technology or a single company,” Gopal said. “They want to have true resiliency, which is lot of diversity and lot of redundancy. So that's what we do.”

The coordination uses Hughes’ Smart Network Edge platform that houses the compute and control resources in a package that can be deployed in edge environments. Gopal explained that this platform is designed to work in edge environments “far away from cloud and populated areas.”

The platform in those locations uses local intelligence to monitor satellite and cellular link robustness in real time.

“Based on the type of traffic, where it's going, what is the cost associated, what is the assurance needed, it can use one or more transports,” Gopal said. “And when one transport is gone, we have the second one or the third one.”

Edge to secure private 5G networks The trial also supported the ability to maintain secure connectivity for devices and applications roaming from the open RAN-based private 5G network running at the Whidbey Island facility to another location while still maintaining the secure connection to applications at the DoD facility. This can allow the DoD to provide secure internet access for missions requiring a user or device to move from one base to another.

Gopal said the platform relies on zero-trust principles to deal with the necessary security components.

EchoStar’s management has repeatedly touted the operational benefits of its cloud native-based 5G network architecture, with a focus on its ability to more easily and cost effectively support new services like private 5G networks. However, EchoStar has been unable to unlock those benefits to date.

EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan noted during the carrier’s most recent earnings call that the private 5G space remains “nascent,” though it continues to “have enormous hope and expectation for that market. Nothing in the immediate future, though … as you know, in enterprise sales, and particularly in a brand-new category, where … there is no … strong precedents in the market, there’s a bunch of business and development activities that have to go on before significant sales can be made.”

The trial also builds on past work from EchoStar and its various operating entities, with Gopal noting this specific work began two years ago.

The most recent efforts are around a DoD contract extension EchoStar signed that allowed for continued deployment work on a 5G standalone (SA) network at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) in Hawaii and at the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island. The former builds on an original agreement that started in 2021, while the latter started in 2022. Both contracts were extended through 2025.

Hughes is leading the deployment, which includes open RAN equipment, edge cloud and a packet processing core. They are using EchoStar’s spectrum assets; Cisco transport routers, switches and firewalls; JMA Wireless’ open RAN equipment; Intel’s edge cloud stack and Xeon processors; and site survey and network installation services from Boingo Wireless.

Gopal explained that this work also helps foster new innovation that can benefit strict DoD needs and broader commercial interests, noting that “these are not science projects, they ultimately serve a purpose.”

“I think this service is a very cost-efficient way, very practical way to demonstrate and validate that these technologies are ready,” Gopal said. “And because the users are not just from a commercial company, the users are people who are working in the base. … These are real pilots, these are technicians, so they see it from the perspective of how our systems are ready, and network is an essential part of that. So I think that's what gets achieved when we demonstrate and validate.”

EchoStar’s impending financial crunch The ability to demonstrate and validate are becoming increasingly pointed for EchoStar as it works against an impending financial time bomb.

The carrier ended its most recent fiscal quarter sitting on around $521 million in cash; and that it expects to have continued negative cash flow through at least the next two quarters; and that it’s on the hook for a nearly $2 billion debt maturity in November. Those numbers equal EchoStar being around $1.5 billion short in just staying on level ground and more when considering the need to have cash on hand to continue funding operations.

“Currently, we do not have the necessary cash on hand and projected future cash flows to fund fourth quarter operations or the November 2024 debt maturity,” EchoStar CFO Paul Orban succinctly stated during the earnings call.

However, EchoStar’s management continued to state that it was in talks on financing options but was holding that insight close to its vest.

Akhavan stated only that “we continue to make progress and are in constructive discussions with counterparties, which we feel best support our objectives. The nature of these discussions requires confidentiality. While I cannot provide more detail today, we will have more to share when it’s appropriate.”

Gimmie Credit financial analyst Dave Novosel noted in a report that EchoStar’s “ability to borrow more is uncertain, implying that bankruptcy may be a viable option before the end of the year.”