Viasat expects about $180 million fiscal 2027 free cash flow while keeping $950 million to $1 billion CapEx plan unchanged

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.

U.S. space and artificial intelligence company SpaceX announced it will acquire licenses for the spectrum bands used for mobile phones. The company, which operates the satellite communications network service Starlink, stressed that it "will become the first network operator to deploy both satellite and ground-based networks." The acquisition it disclosed covers radio waves in the 800-megahertz band, which travel long distances and are hard to block with buildings or walls, part of a spectrum range known in Japan as the "platinum band." U.S. financial giant Morgan Stanley called the announcement a major step toward building a mobile communications network, and said that while the acquisition price was not disclosed, it "would not be surprised if it approached 8 billion dollars, or roughly 1.3 trillion yen." In the U.S. stock market on the 9th, shares of the three major U.S. telecom carriers plunged, while shares of tower companies that handle base station construction and other work were bought. Still, Morgan Stanley analyzed that the spectrum band is insufficient for expanding service to densely populated areas and that infrastructure development will also be necessary, and it believes "there is still a long road ahead to compete head-on with major telecom carriers."