TOP NEWS
* Indian ride-hailing company Ola is in talks with investors, including the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings (Pte.) Ltd., to bring up to US$1 billion into the company. The deal, expected to value Ola at about US$6 billion to US$7 billion, would include a secondary sale of shares by a slew of investors, people familiar with the development told The Economic Times.
* Chinese livestreaming social media platform YY Inc. said its live game-streaming subsidiary HUYA Inc. recently submitted a draft registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Committee for a possible initial public offering of American depositary shares.
* SoftBank Group Corp. is in advanced talks to lead a new funding round worth 30 billion rupees in Indian online marketplace Paytm Mall, two sources familiar with the development told The Economic Times. Paytm is also in talks with Singapore's Temasek Holdings and Chinese investment firm Primavera Capital Group to raise another 10 billion rupees, the report said.
JAPAN
* Sharp Corp. extended its interactive program guide deal with TiVo Corp. to support the discovery of content across entertainment devices. Sharp will further utilize TiVo's G-Guide HTML across Sharp 4K smart TVs and Ultra HD Blu-ray recorders in Japan, TiVo's G-Guide xD app and remote schedule recording service for its Blu-ray recorders. Sharp also struck an expanded multiyear licensing deal for TiVo's patent portfolios.
* Toshiba Digital Solutions Corp., the system integration unit of Toshiba Corp., will set up a new company that aims to promote digital transformation. The new entity, Toshiba Digital & Consulting, will capitalize on demand for internet of things and artificial intelligence.
* Rakuten Inc., Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. and Tepco Power Grid Inc. reached an agreement for Rakuten to use Tepco's infrastructure, such as transmission towers, utility poles and telecommunication towers, to establish a network of base stations for its mobile network operator business.
SOUTH KOREA
* Apple Korea Ltd. denied all allegations in response to a collective lawsuit filed by Citizen United for Consumer Sovereignty for slowing down old iPhones, Money Today reports. Meanwhile, law firm Hannuri Law is also preparing to file the biggest collective lawsuit in the country, which is comprised of 64,000 iPhone users against Apple Inc. and Apple Korea.
* The Ministry of Science and ICT will host a media content showcase in Mumbai, India, to diversify their export market. Local production companies including KBS Media, MBC and CJ E&M will participate in the event to showcase 50 pieces of content in various genres including entertainment, animation and web content.
* The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will prepare a plan to promote the industry standardization of autonomous vehicles to support early commercialization, Digital Daily reports.
CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN
* Chinese bike-sharing company Ofo received a 1.77 billion yuan capital infusion from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in two separate deals carried out by its subsidiaries in February, Deal Street Asia reports, citing The Paper.
* Alibaba Music Group and NetEase Inc.'s NetEase Music have struck a deal to swap music copyrights, Global Times reports, citing 163.com.
* Xiaomi Inc. is set to enter the U.S. market by the end of this year, or by early 2019, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun.
* Tencent Holdings Ltd.-owned social media platform WeChat has reached 1 billion user accounts, the Financial Times reports. Tencent CEO Pony Ma said the platform hit the 1 billion mark during the February Lunar New Year festival.
* Baidu Inc. has set up Smart Living Group, a unit that will develop devices running on DuerOS, the company's AI-powered system, 36kr reports.
* Baidu dropped its lawsuit against JingChi, an autonomous driving startup founded by a former Baidu executive, South China Morning Post reports. The decision comes after JingChi became an official partner of Baidu's autonomous driving platform Apollo.
* Baofeng Group Co. Ltd. CEO Feng Xin said in an internal email that the company will begin its transition as an internet television and home internet services brand in 2019, Yicai Global reports, citing Sina Technology.
* Chinese news aggregator Toutiao is looking to commercialize its internal instant messaging system during the first half of the year, Yicai Global reports, citing Jiemian News.
INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA
* Microsoft Corp. announced the completion of its first renewable energy deal in India. The agreement will see Microsoft purchase 3 MW of solar-powered electricity from Atria Power to help power its new office building in Bangalore, meeting 80% of the projected electricity needs at the facility. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
* An arbitration court stopped Reliance Communications Ltd. from selling or transferring its assets without the permission of the court, stalling the company's planned sale of a majority of its wireless assets to Reliance Jio. The order was in response to Ericsson India's appeal to recover payments from RCom, Press Trust of India reports.
* Bharti Airtel Ltd., through its subsidiary, has acquired the India leg of Gulf Bridge International's India-Middle East-Europe submarine cable. The Indian telco also acquired the rights to use a "significant capacity" on the Middle East-Europe leg of GBI's cable system.
* More than 100,000 customers of the beleaguered Aircel Cellular Ltd. have registered under BSNL's mobile number portability facility to join the state-owned operator, Press Trust of India reports, citing R Marshal Antony Leo, chief general manager of BSNL's Tamil Nadu circle. This comes about a week after Aircel filed for bankruptcy.
* Vice India, a joint venture between VICE Media LLC and Times Group, will launch on April 2. According to Television Post, the joint venture will create original content for distribution across television, mobile, digital and linear platforms.
* Alphabet Inc.'s Google Inc. is rolling out a chat feature to its Indian mobile payments app Tez, allowing users to communicate with contacts, The Economic Times reports.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
* Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Informatics confirmed that it has blocked Tumblr Inc., Detik reports. Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, the director general of informatics application, stated that the block was done because Tumblr did not respond to the ministry's request to remove pornographic content in its platform.
* Singtel Innov8, the corporate venture capital arm of Singtel, formed a partnership with the National University of Singapore to launch Innovation Cyber Security Ecosystem at Block 71, the city-state's first regional cybersecurity hub to create and support startups, entrepreneurs and academics.
* The government of Singapore will set aside an additional S$145 million to fund the TechSkills Accelerator, a tripartite initiative to boost people's digital capabilities.
* Southeast Asian ride-hailing service Grab is partnering with Malaysia's DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd to provide 1,000 in-car infotainment tablets powered by Digi's 4G Plus network, New Straits Times reports. The collaboration, which will be in place for a year, will be launched in April.
* PLDT Inc., a telecom and digital services provider in the Philippines, implemented Qwilt Inc.'s open caching service to optimize content delivery and improve quality of experience for its customers.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
* Fairfax Media Ltd. said the merger agreement between its New Zealand business Stuff Ltd. and NZME Ltd. has been terminated. However, the companies will pursue their appeal of the New Zealand High Court's ruling upholding the New Zealand Commerce Commission's decision to decline the merger of the businesses and will re-engage on potential transaction terms pending the outcome of the appeal.
* Vocus Group Ltd appointed Bob Mansfield, board deputy chairman and lead independent director, as independent, nonexecutive chairman. Mansfield will replace outgoing chairman Vaughan Bowen, who said that this is the "appropriate time" for him to resign from the board. Vocus Deputy Chairman Craig Farrow will also quit the board of the Australian telco.
* Xero Ltd founder Rod Drury is handing over the CEO reins to Steve Vamos, a former senior executive of Microsoft and Apple's Australian business. According to The Australian, Vamos has been working with Xero's executive team as a consultant for the past 18 months.
FEATURED NEWS
Analysis: Comcast's historical M&A record hints at potential Sky strategy: Although some believe Comcast and 21st Century Fox are on the brink of a bidding war for British pay-TV giant Sky, there could still be a chance for the two sides to find a peaceful resolution.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Wireless Investor: MLB brings more statistics to apps and online video: Major League Baseball adds more statistics to online video and apps while dabbling in online streaming and virtual reality, or VR, without blackouts.
Nozomi Ibayashi, Nicole Shiwon Kim, Frances Wang, Ed Eduard and Wil Hathaway 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.
