EchoStar to lay off 330 employees in Montgomery County

EchoStar will soon lay off 330 people across three facilities in Gaithersburg and Germantown.

The cuts to Hughes Network Systems, a satellite subsidiary of EchoStar, come as the telecommunications company navigates financial woes and debt repayment. The layoffs are set to take effect on Sept. 22, according to a notice filed with the state labor department last week.

In a statement shared with The Banner, Hughes Network Systems wrote that the layoffs were needed to align the company’s expenses with market realities.

“Taking this action now better positions Hughes to navigate upcoming financial obligations and ensures we have the necessary resources to continue investing in growth across our business,” the company said.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the company is preparing to file for bankruptcy within days in order to avoid paying off $1.5 billion in debt that’s due Aug. 1.

EchoStar also recently agreed to sell $23 billion in assets to AT&T. The sale allows some of its subsidiaries, including Dish Wireless and Dish DBS, to pay off their debts. Those providers had filed for bankruptcy before the deal with AT&T was finalized.

The affected locations include Hughes’ headquarters and its manufacturing and incubation facility on Montgomery College’s Germantown campus.

These are not the first mass layoffs in Montgomery County announced this summer. General Dynamics Information Technology announced in July that it would lay off 32 people in Germantown. And Microsoft’s ZeniMax Media is cutting more than 350 jobs across Maryland, including 166 roles in Rockville.