Hughes Network Systems working with Hughes Electronics subsidiary Hughes Space and Communications (and subsequently sold to Boeing and called Boeing Satellite Systems and later the Boeing Satellite Development Center)[6] completed and built the North American Spaceway system meant to provide broadband capabilities of up to 512 kbit/s, 2 Mbit/s, and 16 Mbit/s uplink data communication rates[7] with fixed Ka-band satellite terminal antennas sized as small as 74 centimetres (29 in).
[7] The broadband Spaceway system was standardized by Telecommunications Industry Association[8] and European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as the Regenerative Satellite Mesh - A Air Interface.
[10] Boeing retrofitted the first two satellites for bent pipe Ka-band communications for use in high-definition television and disabled the regenerative on-board processing of the original system that was to be used for broadband satellite communications.
[6] Spaceway-1, Spaceway-2 and Spaceway-3 have been launched and Hughes Network Systems had an option to purchase and have Boeing build Spaceway-4.
[11] Spaceway-1, after exceeding its design life by two and a half years, was decommissioned in February 2020 after suffering extensive thermal damage to its batteries in December 2019, forcing the satellite to be moved to a graveyard orbit to prevent the risk of it exploding.