TOP NEWS
* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is exploring a secondary stock exchange listing in mainland China as early as this summer, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. However, any potential listing in China would require a change in the country's securities rules, which bar companies based abroad from a direct listing, one of the people told The Journal. Alibaba's primary businesses are based in China, but the company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands.
* Sri Lanka lifted its ban on Facebook Inc. a week after blocking access to the social media network due to communal violence, some incidents of which were reportedly instigated by Facebook posts, Reuters reports, citing Sri Lankan officials. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena tweeted that his secretary "has discussed with officials of Facebook, who have agreed that its platform will not be used for spreading hate speech and inciting violence," prompting the state leader to remove the ban.
JAPAN
* The Japan Fair Trade Commission raided the local unit of Amazon.com Inc. on suspicion that the e-commerce retailer was violating antitrust regulations, Reuters reports, citing a statement from Amazon Japan KK. The report, which also cited Kyodo news agency, said Amazon Japan was suspected of asking suppliers to pay fees for selling their items at discounts on its platform.
* Tokyo-based content developer Chotchy Inc. raised about ?130 million from venture capitals and investors, The Nikkei reports. The fund will be used for consumer-level advertising.
* Internet access provider Internet Initiative Japan Inc. started offering IIJ Mobile Access Service Type I as a full mobile virtual network operator to help achieve more efficient communications costs for specific internet of things applications.
* Japanese advertising giant Hakuhodo Inc. will partner with Linkers Co. Ltd., a Tokyo-based web system developer, to support startups. Financial details were not provided.
SOUTH KOREA
* AfreecaTV Co. Ltd.'s affiliate Freec has signed a deal with local online lecture platform Quriously to jointly produce educational content and share creators, ZDNet Korea reports.
* Kakao Corp. will undergo structural changes to diversify its profit, Financial News reports. The company's startup investment business K Cube Ventures changed its name to Kakao Ventures, and LoEn Entertainment Inc. will change its name to Kakao M by the end of this month. The company also added a travel business to its messenger service Kakao Talk.
* NCsoft Corp. will focus AI technologies to participate in various information and communications sectors beyond the game industry, Maeil Business Newspaper reports. The company has been operating research centers for artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology since 2011.
CHINA
* China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd.'s net profit nearly tripled in 2017, driven by growth initiatives, cost control and mechanism reform. The state-owned mobile operator said that profit attributable to the company's equity shareholders for the year was 1.83 billion Chinese yuan, a 192.5% year-over-year increase from 625 million yuan.
* Baidu Inc.'s video streaming service iQiyi Inc. will be listed on Nasdaq at the end of the month, represented by the stock code "IQ," Caijing reports. The IPO price has not been set, but according to previous reports the company plans to raise US$1.5 billion.
* Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will build a new NAND flash memory chip manufacturing line in Xian, China's Shaanxi Province, at the end of the month, Sina reports. The Samsung Group unit said in August 2017 that it will invest US$7 billion in three years in Xian to expand its NAND production.
* Shenzhen-listed Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp. Beijing resumed trading on March 16 after one-and-a-half days of suspension, clarifying that the company has not reached any deal with potential investors for a stake acquisition and that shareholders holding more than 5% stake in the company did not have the intention to sell.
* Royal Group Co. Ltd., formerly Guangxi Royal Dairy Co. Ltd., reached an agreement with Chinese film producer Bona Film Group Ltd. The companies will share resources in topic setting, IP trading, new media management and other related aspects.
INDIA
* Bharti Airtel Ltd.'s shareholders approved the Indian telco's plan to issue 30,000 listed, unsecured, rated, redeemable, nonconvertible debentures at a face value of 1 million Indian rupees, amounting to 30 billion rupees, on a private placement basis. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including refinancing of existing debt and spectrum liabilities.
* Alphabet Inc.'s Google Inc.'s voice-based Google Assistant now supports Hindi on phones running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow or above and will soon roll out to Android 5.0 Lollipop and Apple Inc.'s iPhone devices.
* Discovery Communications LLC's Discovery World HD started adding Hindi, Tamil and Telugu feeds for specific markets, Indian Television reports, citing Zulfia Waris, Discovery Communications India's vice president and head of premium and digital networks. The language feeds will be available on all cable and direct-to-home platforms offering Discovery World HD.
* Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. plans to roll out an English movie channel under the "&" brand, which will be called "&flix," Television Post reports. ZEEL is awaiting the approval of India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to proceed with the launch. Meanwhile, its movie production arm Zee Studios is planning to produce 10 to 12 films with a working capital investment of 1.5 billion Indian rupees, according to Television Post.
* Tata Teleservices Ltd. will be shutting down its code-division multiple access, or CDMA, service in India's Delhi circle starting March 19, Press Trust of India reports. The company, which is in the process of transferring its wireless operations to Bharti Airtel, has reportedly closed its CDMA service in some areas already.
* Infosys Ltd. is opening its next technology and innovation hub in the U.S., specifically in Hartford, Conn., and is planning to create 1,000 tech jobs in the state by 2022.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
* Singtel and the members of Southeast Asia-Japan 2 consortium, partnered with NEC Corp., a Japanese IT company, to build undersea cables connecting North Asia and Southeast Asia. The project aims to provide improved connectivity between the two regions.
* Alibaba opened its first data center in Indonesia. The center will support the Indonesian government's initiatives to grow 1,000 startups by 2020.
* Video-streaming service Hooq Holdings Pte. Ltd., a joint-venture of Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment, Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Singtel, will broadcast six original series made by Asian filmmakers, The Straits Times reports. These series are from Singapore, Indonesia, India and Thailand.
* Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission revealed that Section 44 of the constitution will be evoked soon to help keep digital TV operators afloat, Kom Chad Luek reports. Proposed measures reportedly include a 3-year payment deferment, a 50% reduction in multiplex rental fees and installment payments. Section 44 allows the Thai prime minister to bypass existing laws.
* LINE Cookie Run, an endlessly running game currently published by Line Corp., announced that the game and all relevant services in Thailand will be terminated by Oct. 31, TNN reports.
AUSTRALIA
* Screen Australia allocated a total of A$7.4 million in feature film, TV and online production programs for Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) (AU), Foxtel, Seven West Media Ltd.'s Channel Seven and Ten Network Holdings Ltd.'s Network Ten.
* Telstra Corp. Ltd.'s venture capital arm invested in California-based drone flight platform Cape, joining Google among the startup's investors, The Australian reports.
FEATURED NEWS
The Program Guide: Starz buys rights to 8 documentaries; Apple, Snapchat order series: Stories about HBO and Starz's upcoming documentaries, series' renewal by E!, POP and Netflix, and a series order by Snapchat are included in this edition of The Program Guide.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Analysis: Blocked Broadcom deal highlights questions around government's 5G role: The tension over the government's role in 5G was highlighted after U.S. President Donald Trump barred Singapore-based Broadcom from acquiring the U.S. chipmaker QUALCOMM.
Wireless Investor: Cord cutter's guide to sports apps, 2018: The recently announced exclusive streaming rights agreement between Facebook and the MLB for 25 live 2018 season games values each afternoon game at about $1.3 million ($32.5 million for 25 games) and is one of the first deals of its kind.
Nozomi Ibayashi, Nicole Shiwon Kim, Emily Lai, Wil Hathaway and Kevin Osmond contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external links may require a subscription.
