Indian authorities pushed back against Elon Musk’s claims that unnamed oligarchs were blocking Starlink from launching in the country, stating all three prospective operators remain broadly at the same stage of the regulatory process.

In a post on X, Musk accused “certain oligarchs” of trying to maintain a “monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people”, adding “you can guess who they are…” without naming the parties involved. “This is a crime against the people of India!” he wrote.

In a statement, India’s Ministry of Communications rejected the allegation, explaining its satellite communications framework is “fair and non-discriminatory”. It said assessments are currently underway for all licensed operators in India, with each required to meet security conditions before it can seek spectrum.

“At present, all the three entities are at broadly the same regulatory stage,” the ministry said, calling claims of discriminatory treatment “baseless and misconceived”.

The country’s telecoms sector is dominated by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel. Both operators, alongside Musk’s Starlink, have secured initial approvals for satellite services but are awaiting spectrum assignment and final clearances.

Starlink’s approval process has stretched over four years, with security requirements and spectrum access among the key issues under scrutiny. Musk has previously clashed with Ambani over India’s satellite spectrum allocation, although both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel later struck agreements with the tech mogul to distribute Starlink services in the country.

The US satellite venture’s regulatory wait has also been marred by security concerns. Local media reports stated authorities recovered illegal Starlink equipment in two separate operations in late 2024, including a drug seizure in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and an army search in the northeastern state of Manipur.

This week, Musk also disputed any suggestion the equipment was connected to an active Starlink service in India, posting on X that its satellite beams were “turned off over India” and “never on in the first place”.

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Samsung Electronics forecast consolidated operating profit of KRW107.4 trillion ($80.2 billion) in preliminary Q3 figures, the first time it would surpass the KRW100 trillion milestone.

With its chip business continuing to thrive, Samsung’s projected quarterly operating profit figure is a 782% increase year-on-year.

Revenue is expected to hit around KRW195 trillion, up almost 127%.

It would be the South Korean company’s fourth straight quarter of record operating profit, fuelled by an ongoing memory chip shortage driven by rising demand for AI services.

Josh Gilbert, lead analyst for APAC at investment platform eToro, told CNBC with “AI spending driving demand for memory and supply remaining tight, the larger story of the chip sector remains intact”, pointing to the fact emerging AI agents would require more memory than chatbots.

“Memory buyers are also committing to multi-year supply agreements, giving Samsung greater visibility over demand in a business where investors have always worried about the next downturn,” CNBC reported Gilbert as saying.

Samsung posted revenue of KRW171.5 trillion and operating profit of KRW89.5 trillion in Q2.

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Widespread availability of Wi-Fi makes the technology an ideal candidate for inclusion in future 6G standards, the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) argued.

The specialist Wi-Fi industry body believes the next connectivity shift will fall short without the technology and called on the wider telecoms industry to look at ways it can work alongside mobile networks to deliver ubiquitous coverage.

WBA president and CEO Tiago Rodrigues branded Wi-Fi “fundamental” to ubiquitous coverage ambitions, highlighting indoor connectivity as a prime example.

The WBA recently released a report explaining why it believes Wi-Fi should be a core element of 6G and detailing various means of incorporating it, which Rodrigues said offers a “practical framework that can reduce cost and complexity”.

Convergence is a core element of the WBA’s strategy. It argued Wi-Fi could be central to providing the “consistent user experience and deep indoor coverage” detailed in the ITU’s IMT-2030 framework for 6G because it is “already a common technology” for internal connectivity.

As such, the industry body wants to see tweaks to access models to provide agnostic set-ups which can run on Wi-Fi or mobile as required.

The WBA also argues any convergence of Wi-Fi and 6G must tackle commercial considerations including network costs; customer experience; increased automation; and fresh service opportunities.

It stated the approach would benefit operators and device makers, alike.

Keeping costs in mind would also remove barriers the WBA stated hindered uptake of previous convergence plays involving Wi-Fi, 4G and 5G.

Getting it right could have big implications for autonomous networks, industrial and emergency service connectivity and various digital logistics plays, the WBA stated.

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Aerospace and defence groups are reportedly pushing back against a SpaceX-backed effort to overhaul wireless spectrum coordination for rocket launches.

Bloomberg reported the proposed changes would replace the third-party frequency-coordination system overseeing how government agencies and commercial entities share key telemetry bands.

The FCC sought public comment on modernising launch spectrum coordination following an August 2026 Presidential Memorandum and a petition filed by the Commercial Space Federation (CSF).

According to filings highlighted by outlet Vertical Aviation International, CSF asked the FCC to replace the existing flight-test frequency coordination process with direct coordination and an automated, near-real-time database across shared telemetry bands.

A coalition representing aerospace and defence organisations, commercial aircraft manufacturers including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and flight-test operators submitted formal comments urging the FCC to proceed cautiously.

In a joint submission, the Aerospace & Defense Industry Spectrum Coalition warned the proposed coordination changes could increase the risk of harmful electromagnetic interference.

The coalition stated these shared frequencies are vital for real-time safety telemetry during prototype aircraft evaluations, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) certification flights, and defence readiness testing.

It also argued the FCC’s expedited comment schedule did not allow sufficient time for comprehensive technical studies to verify non-interference.

The clash leaves the FCC balancing faster rocket launch schedules against the need to protect aerospace and defence users of the same spectrum from harmful interference.

FCC bird approval
SpaceX notched a regulatory win after it secured Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to launch 15,000 next-gen satellites for its direct-to-device (D2D) mobile service, creating a path to compete directly with AT&T, T-Mobile US and Verizon.

SpaceX filed its application with the FCC in September 2025 ahead of rebranding its D2D satellite offering as Starlink Mobile earlier this year.

Elon Musk-controlled SpaceX is targeting a download speed of 150Mb/s for its D2D service compared to about 4Mb/s on the downlink for the Starlink provisioned offering by T-Mobile.

Instead of relying on a terrestrial network with cell towers, SpaceX plans to pair its satellites with ground-based femtocells to provide 5G mobile coverage, a plan many executives in the industry consider far-fetched.

“With this action, SpaceX’s planned deployments will reshape spectrum-based connectivity by improving competition, allowing more consumers more choices in more places to further the Commission’s goal to connect everyone, everywhere to modern communications services,” the agency stated on 6 October

The FCC also issued SpaceX a waiver to offer its service through satellites without entering into a leasing agreement with a terrestrial mobile operator.

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