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Asiasat, Thaicom sign cooperation agreement
MUMBAI: Asiasat and Thaicom have announced the signing of a cooperation agreement to provide satellite services from the orbital location of 120 degrees East.
Under the agreement, the two companies will place an interim satellite at the 120 degrees East orbital slot, while a new satellite contracted with Space Systems/Loral will be launched in early 2014. Asiasat and Thaicom will provide services on their portions of the new satellite under the name AsiaSat 6 and Thaicom 7 respectively.
This cooperation will preserve the 120 degrees East orbital slot for Thailand and will provide additional broadcast, telecommunications and broadband services across the Asia-Pacific region.
Asiasat president, CEO William Wade said, “Our strategic cooperation with Thaicom allows Asiasat to expand our inventory and to meet growing demand from the region.”
Thaicom CEO Suphajee Suthumpun said, “We are pleased to establish this new partnership with AsiaSat to cooperate on a satellite project that will preserve the orbital slot for Thailand at 120 degrees East, and fulfill the fast growing demand for quality satellite capacity from customers in our country and across the region.”
Asiasat 6/Thaicom 7 will have 28 high-power C-band transponders serving Asia and Australia.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
