Thaicom Renames Company to Gulf Space Technology, Effective September 17, 2026

Elon Musk pledged to make SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service affordable in India, setting up a potential price war with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio just days before its parent company prepares for what could be the country's largest initial public offering. Jio Platforms, which owns India's leading telecommunications provider, is seeking a valuation of approximately $106 billion in its IPO, as SpaceX and Reliance compete for a foothold in India's emerging satellite broadband market while both await final government security approvals. Musk acknowledged that Starlink would need to adapt its pricing in a country where mobile data costs roughly 8 cents per gigabyte, among the lowest rates globally, writing Saturday on X that SpaceX will need to make pricing affordable and that competition would benefit the average citizen in India. Musk did not disclose specific subscription prices or indicate when Starlink might begin commercial operations in India. His pricing comments followed several public attacks on Ambani and Indian regulators, whom he has accused of protecting Reliance Jio from competition, and on Friday he referred to Ambani as Prime Minister Ambani and asked whether he would consider allowing Starlink to compete; Reliance has not publicly responded. India's government has rejected allegations of favoritism, maintaining that all three satellite operators seeking commercial authorization, including Starlink and Jio's satellite venture, remain subject to the same final security review.

The FCC has cleared SpaceX to launch a direct-to-phone satellite service, a decision that raises fresh competitive questions for AST SpaceMobile. The authorization allows SpaceX to use a large low-Earth orbit constellation to connect ordinary smartphones without terrestrial cell towers, letting it bypass mobile carriers entirely. That directly challenges AST SpaceMobile's carrier-partnered business model, which is built on more than 50 mobile network operator partnerships and over $1b of contracted commercial commitments, including work with operators such as TELUS. The clearest early signal to watch is how quickly AST SpaceMobile converts recent integration tests into live commercial launches, including the TELUS service expected within the next year, and whether those launches come with disclosed usage metrics. Clear take-up data and renewed operator contracts would indicate whether carrier-anchored demand is holding up against the new SpaceX option.