Alternative Carriers

Thaicom Public Company Limited, or THCOM, has announced a change of its company name to Gulf Space Technology Public Company Limited, effective September 17, 2026, and will use GST as its securities ticker on the Stock Exchange of Thailand starting September 28, 2026. The change reflects a strategic shift to expand its role from a communications satellite service provider to a space technology service provider, in order to capture business opportunities in the new space economy era. Dr. Piyawat Jariyasetthapong, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Space Technology Public Company Limited, said the renaming reflects the company's elevated role in creating opportunities in the New Space Economy era. The company will build on its expertise in satellite communications to move into space data services and digital infrastructure, while expanding its capabilities to align with the growth of the global space industry and to support Thailand in managing critical domestic data efficiently through Thai infrastructure and Thai service providers. Those interested can follow further information at the company's new website, www.gulfspacetech.com

Iridium Communications stockholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the company's previously announced merger with Rocket Lab Corporation, clearing a key milestone in the deal. At a special meeting held today, approximately 99.6% of the votes cast were in favor of the transaction, representing approximately 81.0% of Iridium's outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote. Under the terms of the agreement, Iridium stockholders will receive $27.00 in cash and a number of shares of Rocket Lab common stock calculated pursuant to an exchange ratio, subject to a collar, for each share of Iridium common stock outstanding at closing, giving the transaction a notional value of $54.00 per Iridium share. Iridium CEO Matt Desch called the vote an important milestone toward bringing together two companies with complementary capabilities, while Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck said it moves the pair closer to creating a next generation space powerhouse. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2027, subject to remaining required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Liberty Global has signed a three-year strategic partnership with conversational AI platform Sierra to roll out AI-powered customer experiences across its operating companies. The framework agreement covers a phased deployment across Liberty Global's approximately 80m fixed and mobile connections in Europe, with implementation already started and use cases and channel mix tailored to individual markets, brands and customers. Sierra's AI agents will engage customers in natural language across chat, voice and text, handling routine and increasingly complex interactions so customer-care teams can focus on situations requiring human judgement and deep expertise. Sierra, founded by Bret Taylor, former Co-CEO of Salesforce and Chairman of OpenAI, and Clay Bavor, former Google executive, was valued at $15bn in its latest funding round in May 2026, and its platform is used by more than 40% of the top 50 companies in the Fortune 500 and one in three of the leading banks. Liberty Global Chairman and CEO Mike Fries said the partnership will make customer journeys simpler, faster and more effective, while Sierra CEO and Co-Founder Bret Taylor called it a strong vote of confidence in Sierra's ability to improve customer experiences, reduce the burden on support teams and grow revenue.

Bandwidth reported second-quarter revenues of $219.9 million, up 22.2% year on year, exceeding analysts' expectations by 1.4%, and posted the highest guidance raise among the 12 software development stocks tracked. The company, which provides cloud-based communications software and APIs for customers including Microsoft, Google, and Zoom, saw revenue and EBITDA guidance for next quarter beat analysts' expectations, and its stock is up 3.8% since reporting, trading at $54.24. Across the group, revenues beat consensus estimates by 3.2% and next quarter's revenue guidance came in 1.8% above, with share prices up 11% on average since the latest results. Fastly delivered the best quarter in the group with revenues of $183.3 million, up 23.3% year on year and 5.3% above expectations, while Akamai posted the weakest performance, with revenues of $1.1 billion, up 5.4% year on year and 0.6% above estimates. Twilio reported revenues of $1.50 billion, up 22% year on year and 5% above expectations, and PagerDuty reported revenues of $124.4 million, flat year on year but 0.9% above expectations, adding 126 customers to reach a total of 15,506.

Lumen Technologies has launched Lumen Intelligent Internet, a service that lets enterprises adjust bandwidth to match demand rather than provisioning fixed peak capacity. The offering is available to enterprise customers at more than 10 million U.S. business locations, with bandwidth scalable to 100 Gbps, according to Lumen. Customers can provision and modify connectivity digitally through Lumen Connect or APIs, and the service introduces term-based pricing for more predictable monthly costs. It also bundles enterprise network controls and security services, including DDoS Essentials and Lumen Defender. Lumen cited IDC research showing 37% of enterprises saw bandwidth requirements rise more than 50% year over year, while 29% reported difficulty aligning networks with AI workloads.

Bandwidth Inc. announced an expansion of its collaboration with Salesforce as the first certified carrier to support the global rollout of Salesforce's native Contact Center. Following the North American debut of Salesforce's AI-powered, CRM-native contact center in March, the expanded collaboration will extend availability to more than 25 countries across Europe, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand this fall, with additional markets to follow. Enterprises will connect to the contact center through a bring-your-own-carrier model using Maestro, Bandwidth's platform for intelligent, global communications orchestration, which operates within Salesforce's governed workflows. Salesforce Senior Vice President of Contact Center Gautam Vasudev cited strong customer momentum since the launch, while Bandwidth Senior Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Ankush Gangwani said the company's Communications Cloud and Maestro make it easier for organizations to rapidly deploy the native Contact Center. Bandwidth is exhibiting this week at Dreamforce 2026 in San Francisco at booth 118.

Kasikorn Securities estimates that THCOM will recognise revenue of about 2.1 billion baht from the USO Phase 3 project, or roughly 80% of the project value won by the TCI joint venture. The joint venture, a partnership between THCOM and ITEL, won 2 of the 5 regions up for bid with a bid of 2.45 billion baht, against an initial project value of 5.56 billion baht. THCOM is expected to recognise about 1.2 billion baht in revenue in the first half of 2027 and to book normal profit from the project in 2027 of about 184 million baht, adding roughly 0.34 baht per share in value. However, this still cannot offset losses from the delayed launches of the Thaicom 9 and Thaicom 10 satellites, so the brokerage maintains a hold rating with a fair value of 12.47 baht. Meanwhile, Asia Plus Securities takes a positive view, raising its 2027 normal profit forecast to 729 million baht from 381 million baht, and keeping its 2026 net loss estimate at 393 million baht, with a buy recommendation and a 2027 target price of 11.80 baht, up from 11.30 baht.

Symphony Communication Public Company Limited, or SYMC, has announced four core strategies to capture the megatrends of AI, data centers, and the digital economy, while maintaining its 2026 performance targets for revenue, EBITDA, and net profit to grow at double-digit levels. The company plans capital expenditure of approximately 25-30% of revenue to expand its network in support of investments by hyperscaler groups in Thailand. For its second-quarter 2026 results, the company reported total revenue of 596.2 million baht, up 11.7% from the same period a year earlier, EBITDA of 217.1 million baht, up 19.2%, and net profit of 60.0 million baht, up 49.6% from the same period a year earlier and 40.9% from the previous quarter. For the first six months of 2026, total revenue was 1,146.2 million baht, up 7.5%, net profit was 102.6 million baht, up 13.4%, and EBITDA was 417.6 million baht, up 10.4%. Domestic enterprise customers accounted for 53% of total revenue, while international services accounted for 35% of total revenue. As for its financial position as of June 30, 2026, the company's debt-to-equity ratio stood at 0.57 times and its interest-bearing debt-to-equity ratio at 0.34 times, with net cash flow from operating activities positive at 215.4 million baht. Meanwhile, an extraordinary shareholders' meeting approved entering into a long-term contract to provide Managed Connectivity services to TGCTH, with a total transaction value of more than 1,792.7 million baht, which will help increase its recurring revenue base and support long-term revenue visibility. One of the four core strategies is upgrading the MCT submarine cable system with the latest technology to support capacity of more than 30 Tbps, in order to drive the Eastern Economic Corridor toward becoming a data gateway and enhance Thailand's ability to attract investment from global technology providers, platforms, and data centers.

Thaicom Public Company Limited, or THCOM, won the auction for Phase 3 of the Universal Service Obligation project, known as USO3, in 2 of the 5 regions, with a combined winning project value of 2.45 billion baht. It won through the TCI consortium, in partnership with INTEL, according to an announcement by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission on September 11. The NBTC board approved the electronic auction process for the USO3 project, which has a project value of 5.56 billion baht, with the total auction value coming in at 5.42 billion baht, 0.6% below the proposed project value. Research from Kasikorn Securities expects THCOM to recognise revenue of 1.5 billion baht from installation work in 2027 and 824 million baht in service fees during 2028 to 2032. The installation work takes 4 quarters, starting from the first quarter of 2027 or the second quarter of 2027, accounting for 62.6% of the total project value. The service portion runs for 5 years, and the company is expected to recognise 80% of the installation work and 90% of the service portion. The research house's view is slightly positive, because the USO3 project result announcement beat the expectations of both the research house and the market, as it came amid internal conflict on the NBTC board, and it should help ease THCOM's losses during the transition from the TC4 satellite to TC9 and TC10. The project is expected to generate revenue of 1.2 billion baht, accounting for 30% of the 2027 revenue estimate, and gross profit of 184 million baht, accounting for 11% of the 2027 gross profit estimate. The research house maintains its Hold recommendation for THCOM with a target price of 12.47 baht, having calculated the present value of profit from this project at approximately 0.34 baht per share, using a WACC of 10%, and views any share price gain beyond 0.34 baht as an overreaction. It also notes that the profit share from the USO3 project is not yet enough to turn around THCOM's operating losses, which stem from delays in launching the TC9 and TC10 satellites.

Asia Plus Securities said the TCI consortium, a partnership between THCOM and Interlink Telecom, or ITEL, has won two contracts in the Phase 3 USO auction, with a combined value of 2.448 billion baht. This breaks down into a contract for the northeastern region worth 1.884 billion baht and a contract for the eastern and western regions worth 564 million baht. Asia Plus views the news as positive for THCOM because it will bring in certain revenue over the five-year life of the contracts and will increase revenue compared with the earlier Phase 1 and Phase 2 edge-network projects, under which THCOM earned only satellite transponder service fees from the auction winners since it did not bid itself. In Phase 3, however, THCOM will earn both equipment installation revenue and satellite transponder service fees. Equipment installation is expected to take about two to three months, so revenue from this project should begin to be recognised in early 2027. That said, results for the third and fourth quarters of 2026 still look weak and the company is expected to remain in the red on normal operations, as no new customers have come in while existing customers, especially broadcasting service providers, are likely to cut usage further. Given the latest auction results, in which the company won work worth more than expected, Asia Plus has raised its 2027 profit forecast for THCOM to 729 million baht from an earlier estimate of 381 million baht, and lifted its 2027 target price to 11.80 baht from 11.30 baht using a discounted cash flow method. It also upgraded its recommendation to Buy from Trading, believing the market has already priced in the negatives, including the likely weak operating performance in the second half of 2026, while the Phase 3 edge network is a positive factor that should help the company swing to a profit in 2027 and support the share price in the near term.

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, or NBTC, said its acting secretary-general has signed the announcement of the winning bidders for the tender to provide high-speed internet services under the Universal Service Obligation project, or USO 3, covering all five groups with a combined value of 5.42 billion baht. Group 1, the northern region, was won by the TI consortium, comprising True Internet Corporation and Infraset, with the lowest bid of 1.2485 billion baht. Group 2, the northeastern region, was won by the TCI consortium, comprising Thaicom and Interlink Telecom, with the lowest bid of 1.884 billion baht. Group 3, the central region, was won by the TW consortium, comprising True Internet Corporation and Wire and Wireless, with the lowest bid of 761.5 million baht. Group 4, the eastern and western regions, was won by the TCI consortium with the lowest bid of 564 million baht. Group 5, the southern region, was won by the Interlink TKC consortium, comprising Interlink Telecom and Turnkey Communication Services, with the lowest bid of 965.7 million baht. All prices include value-added tax and all expenses. Krungsri Securities said the USO3 auction process is not yet fully complete, as it still requires official approval from the NBTC board meeting in about one month and gives interested parties the opportunity to file objections within seven business days, or by September 22, 2026, which could delay the official announcement of the winners by about two more months and push revenue recognition to around December 2026 or early next year. Krungsri Securities maintained its buy rating on THCOM with a target price of 14.7 baht and on INSET with a target price of 6.34 baht, and upgraded ITEL to buy from hold with a new target price of 2.0 baht, up from 1.5 baht.

Shares of Interlink Telecom Public Company Limited, or ITEL, Thai Com Public Company Limited, or THCOM, and Infraset Public Company Limited, or INSET, rose after the companies won the USO#3 auction project, a sub-project under the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission's announcement of the lowest bidders late last Friday. The contracts have a combined value of 5.42 billion baht, covering five regions across Thailand, with THCOM, ITEL, TRUE, INSET and TKC securing contracts in the project. Most recently, ITEL shares stood at 1.66 baht, up 0.18 baht, or 12.16%; INSET shares stood at 4.54 baht, up 0.14 baht, or 3.18%; and THCOM shares stood at 10.40 baht, up 0.40 baht, or 4.00%. Krungsri Securities said THCOM and ITEL are the main beneficiaries of this project because their profits will recover from losses in 2027, or may even double. It maintained a buy recommendation on THCOM with a target price of 14.7 baht and on INSET with a target price of 6.34 baht. At the same time, it upgraded its recommendation on ITEL to buy from hold, with a new target price of 2.0 baht from 1.5 baht, based on a PBV of 0.8 times versus 0.6 times previously.

Thaicom, or THCOM, has won the auction for the Phase 3 border internet project, securing 2 of the 5 contracts on offer. A joint venture between THCOM and Interlink Telecom, or ITEL, was the winning bidder, with a combined value of approximately 2.45 billion baht out of the project's total value of about 5.4 billion baht. The awards comprise a contract for the northeastern region worth approximately 1.89 billion baht, and a contract covering the eastern and western regions combined worth approximately 564 million baht. The research division of Asia Plus Securities said the auction result is a positive factor, as it generates certain revenue throughout the 5-year contract term and exceeds the Phase 1 and Phase 2 projects, since Phase 3 includes both revenue from equipment installation and revenue from satellite channel services. Equipment installation is expected to take about 2 to 3 months before revenue recognition begins in early 2027. However, the earnings outlook for the third and fourth quarters of 2026 remains weak, and the company is still expected to post a loss from normal operations due to the higher-than-expected value of the work. The research division therefore raised its 2027 profit forecast from 381 million baht to 729 million baht, and lifted its 2027 target price from 11.30 baht to 11.80 baht, while upgrading its recommendation from Trading to Buy.

The NBTC has announced the winners of the tender for high-speed internet services under the USO 3 project in all five regions, awarded through e-bidding with a combined value of 5.4237 billion baht. Triarat Viriyasirikul, deputy secretary-general of the NBTC and acting secretary-general, signed the announcement on 11 September 2026. For Region 1, the North, the TI joint venture, made up of True Internet Corporation, a subsidiary of True Corporation, and Infraset, won with the lowest price of 1.2485 billion baht. Region 2, the Northeast, went to the TCI joint venture of Thaicom and Interlink Telecom at 1.884 billion baht. Region 3, the Central region, was won by the TW joint venture of True Internet Corporation and Wire and Wireless at 761.5 million baht. Region 4, the East-West region, went to the TCI joint venture of Thaicom and Interlink Telecom at 564 million baht, and Region 5, the South, was won by the Interlink TKC joint venture of Interlink Telecom and Turnkey Communication Services at 965.7 million baht. All prices include value-added tax and all expenses. Counting only the work won by the Thaicom and Interlink Telecom joint venture in Regions 2 and 4, the combined value comes to 2.448 billion baht, while True has a share in two contracts through its subsidiary worth a total of 2.01 billion baht, and Interlink Telecom is also partnering with Turnkey Communication Services in the South for another 965.7 million baht.

The NBTC has announced the winners of the tender for high-speed internet services under the USO 3 project across all 5 packages, held via e-bidding, with a total value of 5.42 billion baht. Trairat Viriyasirikul, Deputy Secretary-General of the NBTC and Acting Secretary-General, signed the announcement on 11 September 2026. For Package 1, the North, the TI joint venture, comprising True Internet Corporation Limited under the TRUE group and Infraset Public Company Limited, or INSET, submitted the lowest bid at 1.25 billion baht. Package 2, the Northeast, was won by the TCI joint venture, comprising Thaicom Public Company Limited, or THCOM, and Interlink Telecom Public Company Limited, or ITEL, at 1.88 billion baht. Package 3, the Central region, was won by the TW joint venture, comprising True Internet Corporation Limited and Wire and Wireless Company Limited, at 761.5 million baht. Package 4, the East-West region, was won by the TCI joint venture of THCOM and ITEL at 564 million baht. Package 5, the South, was won by the Interlink TKC joint venture, comprising ITEL and Turnkey Communication Services Public Company Limited, or TKC, at 965.7 million baht. All prices include value-added tax and expenses. The project covers the North, Northeast, Central, East-West and South regions to provide high-speed internet services in areas that lack or still have inadequate service, supporting public health, the public interest and security.

Iridium Communications and Deutsche Telekom IoT announced the successful transmission of a voice message over Iridium NTN Direct in a demonstration with Toyota, following the completion of technical integration and a global roaming agreement between the two companies. The message was sent from a Toyota vehicle equipped with a Nordic Semiconductor nRF9151 development board and a Deutsche Telekom IoT SIM, and was transmitted entirely via the Iridium satellite network during Telekom Satellite Day 2026. The first message sent, "testing, testing, one, two, freeway," demonstrated standards-based NB-IoT voice messaging over Iridium's fully operational low-Earth orbit satellite constellation, supported by Fraunhofer's AI-based NESC Voice Codec, which operates at bitrates of 1 kb/s or less. With the roaming agreement now completed, eligible Deutsche Telekom IoT customers using compatible standards-based NB-IoT devices will be able to roam between terrestrial networks and Iridium satellites, and selected European customers are already testing applications on the Iridium network using Deutsche Telekom's Global SIM. Iridium NTN Direct is slated for commercial availability in Q4 2026, extending coverage through Iridium's existing global L-band LEO constellation for automotive, logistics, remote utilities, smart agriculture and emergency response applications.

Iridium Communications and Deutsche Telekom IoT announced the successful transmission of a voice message over Iridium NTN Direct in a demonstration with Toyota, following the completion of technical integration and a global roaming agreement between the two companies. The message was sent from a Toyota vehicle equipped with a Nordic Semiconductor nRF9151 development board and a Deutsche Telekom IoT SIM, and traveled entirely over the Iridium satellite network during Telekom Satellite Day 2026. The first message sent, "testing, testing, one, two, freeway," demonstrated standards-based NB-IoT voice messaging over Iridium's fully operational low-Earth orbit satellite constellation, supported by Fraunhofer's AI-based NESC Voice Codec, which operates at bitrates of 1 kb/s or less. With the roaming agreement now completed, eligible Deutsche Telekom IoT customers using compatible standards-based NB-IoT devices will be able to roam between terrestrial networks and Iridium satellites, and selected European customers are already testing applications on the Iridium network using Deutsche Telekom's Global SIM. Deutsche Telekom IoT customers are poised to take advantage of the commercial availability of Iridium NTN Direct in Q4 2026.

Iridium Communications and Deutsche Telekom IoT announced the successful transmission of a voice message over Iridium NTN Direct in a demonstration with Toyota, following the completion of technical integration and a global roaming agreement between the two companies. The message was sent from a Toyota vehicle equipped with a Nordic Semiconductor nRF9151 development board and a Deutsche Telekom IoT SIM, and was transmitted entirely via the Iridium satellite network during Telekom Satellite Day 2026. The first message sent, "testing, testing, one, two, freeway," demonstrated standards-based NB-IoT voice messaging over Iridium's fully operational low-Earth orbit satellite constellation, supported by Fraunhofer's AI-based NESC Voice Codec. With the roaming agreement now completed, Deutsche Telekom IoT customers are poised to take advantage of the commercial availability of Iridium NTN Direct in Q4 2026, and selected European customers are already testing and developing applications on the Iridium network using Deutsche Telekom's Global SIM. Iridium NTN Direct is designed to extend coverage using Iridium's existing global L-band LEO satellite constellation, allowing eligible Deutsche Telekom IoT customers with compatible standards-based NB-IoT devices to roam between terrestrial networks and Iridium satellites.

Sinch Mailgun, part of Sinch AB, has released Mailgun Inspect, a new integration for Agentforce Marketing that lets marketers test email rendering across inboxes and devices directly within Salesforce. Built as a native Lightning Web Component, the tool supports previews across more than 100 email clients and devices, aiming to reduce manual QA and eliminate tool-switching during campaign production. Available now on AgentExchange, Salesforce's marketplace for the agentic era, the integration addresses fragmented testing workflows that often lead to campaign failures. Sinch's CMO Sophie Cheng and Salesforce's Tyler Carlson both highlighted the benefits of embedding testing into existing marketing workflows. Customers can discover nearly 14,000 vetted apps and agents on AgentExchange.

Cogent Communications Holdings shares gained 14% in the past week after the company reported a narrower second-quarter loss and improving earnings estimates. The loss excluding non-recurring items narrowed to 80 cents per share from $1.21 a year earlier, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate for a loss of $1.12 per share. Service revenues fell 4.3% year over year to $235.6 million, missing the consensus estimate of $240.9 million, as off-net business declined and the Sprint wireline base continued to run off. Non-GAAP gross margin reached 47%, up from 44.4% a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA margin was 30.2% compared with 29.8% in the prior-year quarter. Net leverage adjusted for amounts due from T-Mobile stood at 6.23 times, down from 6.79 times in the prior quarter, and the company faces a $750 million unsecured-note maturity in June 2027 with refinancing expected in the third quarter of 2026.

Globalstar announced the successful launch and deployment of all 8 HIBLEO-4 replacement satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The satellites have reached their intended orbital planes and are under the company's command and control, with initial health assessments indicating they are performing as expected. CEO Dr. Paul E. Jacobs said the milestone provides additional resiliency across the network. The satellites will now undergo commissioning activities, including system testing and calibration, before entering commercial service.

Rocket Lab has agreed to acquire Iridium Communications, aiming to combine Iridium's satellite communications network with its own launch and satellite manufacturing operations. The planned deal is intended to expand Rocket Lab's role beyond launch services into broader space applications using Iridium's existing infrastructure. Both companies expect the transaction to reshape their positions in satellite services, with potential effects on how rivals compete for government and commercial customers. The key reference point is the agreed US$54 per share collar structured acquisition price and whether the transaction closes on the mid 2027 timetable, given the required shareholder and regulatory approvals. Investors can also track Iridium's quarterly dividend decisions, including the US$0.15 per share payout scheduled for September 30, 2026, as a signal on capital return while the deal is pending.