HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY Communications and Customer Relations P.O. Box 92919 (S10/S323) Los Angeles, CA 90009 (310) 364-6363

HUGHES-BUILT JCSAT-4 TO BOOST SERVICES IN PACIFIC RIM (photo)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 14, 1997 -- Satellite communications capabilities for Japan and much of the Pacific Rim will greatly increase with the launch Saturday of the JCSAT-4 spacecraft.

The satellite is an HS 601 body-stabilized model built for Japan Satellite Systems, Inc., of Tokyo by Hughes Space and Communications Company of Los Angeles. The window for launch aboard an Atlas IIAS booster is from 7:37 to 9:01 p.m. Saturday EST (9:37 a.m. Sunday in Tokyo, 00:37 Sunday GMT). Launch will be from Cape Canaveral Air Station on the central Florida coast.

This is the first of 11 Hughes-built satellites scheduled for launch this year. Hughes has been delivering a satellite for launch on the average of nearly one per month since fall 1993.

JCSAT-4 will ultimately be positioned at 124 degrees East longitude, and like previous JCSAT spacecraft will relay voice, data and television signals to Japan. In addition, like its predecessor, JCSAT-3, the new satellite has beams for coverage west to India, south to Australia and New Zealand, and east to Hawaii.

JCSAT-4 carries four octagonal communications antennas and two wings with four solar panels each that together provide more than 5,000 watts of power. The payload consists of 12 active C-band transponders and 28 active Ku-band transponders, some of which can be combined to provide higher-power channels. NEC Corp. of Japan is a major subcontractor to Hughes for the payload electronics.

Hughes has built all of the JCSAT spacecraft. JCSAT-3 is an HS 601 model that was launched in August 1995. JCSAT-1 and 2 are spin-stabilized Hughes HS 393 model spacecraft that were launched in 1989.

Hughes Space and Communications, a unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation, is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites, having built more than 40 percent of those in operation. The earnings of Hughes Electronics are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to GMH (NYSE symbol) common stock.