Yuanta positive on GULF's joint investment in VTS submarine cable, service launch set for 2030

Interlink Telecom Public Company Limited, or ITEL, has been selected by the Provincial Electricity Authority, or PEA, to carry out the project to tidy communication cables on power poles for the year 2026. The project is divided into two parts: work in the central region worth 148,774,493.70 baht, and work in the southern region worth 117,830,798.25 baht, for a total value of 266,605,291.95 baht. Dr. Nattanai Anantarumporn, Chief Executive Officer of ITEL, said the company is pleased to have earned PEA's trust and is committed to completing the work efficiently and on target. The two projects, with a combined value of more than 266 million baht, will help strengthen the company's telecommunications infrastructure revenue base, with revenue recognition proceeding in line with the operating plan and contract conditions after signing.

ALT Telecom Public Company Limited, or ALT, disclosed that it is in negotiations for additional deals with global-tier customers, the Global Hyperscalers, in the fourth quarter of 2026, after signing network and digital infrastructure lease contracts worth a total of approximately 2 billion baht in the third quarter of 2026, with a contract term of 20 years. Preeyaporn Tangpaosak, Managing Director, told the Stock Vision news team that the company targets double-digit growth in revenue in the second half of 2026, driven by recurring revenue recognition from its existing network. The expansion of its large-customer base has raised the value of work awaiting revenue recognition, or backlog, for the group from 5.115 billion baht as of the second quarter of 2026 to approximately 6.9 billion baht in September 2026. The company is also proceeding with bids for smart grid power network systems and AMI smart meter installation work for the Provincial Electricity Authority and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, as well as government work in security and digital fields, with a combined value of several billion baht. It is also pushing to connect networks in the Eastern Economic Corridor, or EEC, with data centers in Bangkok and overseas, setting a target internal rate of return, or IRR, for new projects of no less than 10 to 15 percent. The company sees three key drivers supporting revenue and profit growth over the next 12 to 18 months: the data center and AI trend, growth in smart meter and smart grid work, and margin expansion from operating leverage.

Blackfuel announced in late September 2026 that it has chosen Digital Realty's BCN1 data center in Barcelona to host and scale its liquid-cooled, AMD GPU-powered AI inference platform, tightly integrated with the ServiceFabric interconnection network for low-latency, private connectivity. The move comes shortly after Digital Realty's plan to add a new cable landing station at its LAX12 facility, which is slated to support subsea cables from 2028, tying subsea routes into the company's interconnection fabric. Together, the two projects support Digital Realty's near-term interconnection and AI demand catalyst, including the conversion of a US$1.9b lease backlog and US$410m of recent hyperscale signings into revenue. The company's narrative projects $9.7 billion in revenue and $1.4 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 12.7% yearly revenue growth and an earnings increase of about $0.6 billion from $758.3 million today. The central debate remains Digital Realty's enlarged 1.4 GW, US$4.25b to US$4.75b 2026 CapEx plan and whether demand will match that build out, with three fair value estimates from the Simply Wall St Community spanning roughly US$223 to US$303 per share.

AT&T CEO John Stankey said Elon Musk-led Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s plan to roll out a cellular network will not work, arguing fiber-based connectivity beats satellites. In an interview with Axios on Tuesday, Stankey said fiber is three times faster than satellite networks and that satellite, even at its best over the next 10 years, still will not beat fiber. Asked about SpaceX's plan to install cellular base stations alongside Starlink dishes, Stankey said it would cost as much as building a macro network to handle those capabilities, and that companies cannot radiate cellular signals from someone's house without permission. He cited a whole bunch of reasons why SpaceX's plan would not work. Earlier this month, SpaceX won Federal Communications Commission approval to provide international telecommunications services, boosting its plans for direct-to-cell 5G connectivity via the Starlink constellation, and the FCC is set to vote on September 30 on unlocking an additional 1,000 MHz of spectrum for satellite broadband.