TOP NEWS
* South Korea's Ministry of Science and Technology applied for a preliminary feasibility study on the research and development of 6G telecommunications technologies, ET News reported. The ministry plans to invest 976 billion won in relevant activities from 2021 with a goal to commercialize 6G services in 2028.
* China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television approved the publication of 26 new games, including two titles from Tencent Holdings Ltd., two from NetEase Inc. and one from Bilibili Inc.
* Baidu Inc. agreed to make a US$30 million investment in Qima, a China Youzan Ltd. subsidiary engaged in the e-commerce business. As part of the deal, Qima and Baidu will cooperate on several business areas, including smart applets development, application and solution provision.
* Xiaomi Corp.'s acquisition of VeriSilicon's shares is both an investment and a way to strengthen its internet of things chip strategy, according to experts.
JAPAN
* NTT Docomo Ventures Inc. has acquired shares in W.S.C Sports Technologies via a third-party allotment. W.S.C. Sports is an Israel-based startup that provides a platform capable of automatically creating sports video highlights in real-time by using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.
* Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Switch console is getting a screen upgrade by using IGZO display panels from Sharp Corp., according to The Wall Street Journal. IGZO, or indium gallium zinc oxide, displays offer high resolution, low energy consumption and durability.
* Pokémon Co. is teaming up with Indonesian conglomerate Salim Group to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian country under a master licensee agreement. An Indonesian version of the Pokemon card game was launched as part of the deal.
* Fujitsu Ltd. is looking to launch an IT consulting firm this year to provide support to clients on the digitization of their businesses, The Nikkei reported. The new firm will initially begin with 500 internal engineers and increase its staff to 2,000 by FY2022.
SOUTH KOREA
* KT Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with local cloud computing company InnoGrid Co. Ltd. to cooperate on cloud service business for public institutions, ZDNet Korea reported. Under the agreement, the telecom operator plans to launch a hybrid cloud solution that combines its public cloud service capabilities with InnoGrid's integrated management solution.
CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN
* China Mobile Ltd. will invest 24 billion yuan in 5G infrastructure this year, Yicai reported. The plan includes building 50,000 base stations to support the 5G commercial network in over 50 cities.
* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has acquired Russian Java developer Excelsior for an undisclosed sum, Telecompaper reported, citing Cnews.ru. Excelsior has its office at the Chinese company's research center in Novosibirsk, Russia.
* Xiaomi reached a strategic partnership agreement with Tencent for mobile and internet of things safety to enhance the online safety and privacy protection of internet users.
* A research team at video streaming service iQIYI Inc. released a new cartoon dataset called iCartoonFace, Synced reported. The researchers say the anime-based dataset can apply to recognition research, cartoon person modeling and image classification.
* HKBN Ltd. appointed Almira Chan to be chief strategy officer and Agnes Tan to be chief legal officer. Chan and Tan are also joining the telco's executive management committee, which will now have eight members. Both executives previously worked for fixed-line operator WTT HK Ltd., which HKBN acquired in April.
INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA
* Singtel could increase its shareholding in Bharti Telecom Ltd. to more than 50% from the current 48.90%, India's The Economic Times reported, citing a Bharti Group spokesperson. A stake increase would allow Singtel to take majority ownership of Bharti Telecom, which is reportedly seeking to pay down some debt through investments from its promoter entities and Singtel.
* The Indian government is considering transferring BSNL's land assets and loans to a special purpose vehicle to make the state-owned mobile operator a debt-free entity, The Economic Times (India) reported, citing PTI.
* India's Times Network struck a deal with Canada's TabletStream to add its channels on the livestreaming service's platform, The Economic Times (India) reported. Some of the Times Network channels now available on TabletStream include English news channels Times Now and Mirror Now, business news channel ET Now and Bollywood channel Zoom.
* Vodafone Idea Ltd. selected Amdocs Ltd., a provider of software and services to communications and media companies, to consolidate the merged entity's postpaid operations for retail and enterprise customers across mobile and fixed-line services. As part of the new multiyear agreement, Idea postpaid customers will be migrated to Amdocs Service Monetization Software Suite.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
* Singapore-based broadcasting company MediaCorp Pte. Ltd. is partnering with beIN Media Group LLC unit beIN SPORTS to bring sports content to its digital video platform Toggle, Channel News Asia reported. Under the partnership, Mediacorp customers can subscribe to beIN SPORTS Pass, which gives access to live and on-demand football matches and the Rugby World Cup Pass.
* In related news, Singtel said it will provide complete and live coverage of the Rugby World Cup 2019 via beIN SPORTS RUGBY channel. The content will be available on Singtel's CAST mobile video app and Singtel TV as a stand-alone pack.
* MDI Ventures, the venture capital arm of Telkom Indonesia, appointed Shannon Lee Chaluangco to lead its newly opened investment arm in Singapore. Prior to joining the company, Chaluangco worked as a senior analyst and investment manager at multiple venture funds in the U.S. and Asia.
* Huawei's Thailand unit launched OceanConnect, a cloud-based internet of things platform designed to assist telecom operators and businesses in the deployment of IoT networks and system integrators, Manager reported.
* Several former staff of Thai digital TV operator Channel 3 filed an unfair dismissal complaint with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, Matichon reported. The complainants objected to the compensation package offered by the NBTC after Channel 3 opted to return its license to the regulator. The NBTC will consider the complaint in a subcommittee hearing.
* TrueVisions named True Corp., Singha Corp. Co. Ltd., AP Honda, Siam Makro, CP All and CPF as official commercial partners for its exclusive coverage of the English Premier League's next three seasons, Manager reported.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
* Nokia Corp. will bring a commercial 5G network to New Zealand under a deal with Vodafone New Zealand Ltd. Nokia will deliver and integrate a 5G network for the telecom operator for launch in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown by late 2019.
* The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has commenced federal court proceedings against local online health booking platform HealthEngine Pty. Ltd. for sharing patient data with insurance brokers and manipulating patient reviews and ratings.
FEATURED NEWS
Data Dispatch: Sprint customer satisfaction drops as yearlong deal approval drags on: T-Mobile and Sprint have made the case to U.S. regulators that their pending wireless merger will benefit consumers, but customer satisfaction ratings at one of the companies have gone down since the deal was first announced.
Data Dispatch: Leading US cloud providers see expenses, revenue grow with market shifts: Enterprise cloud solutions are moving to more hybrid solutions that include both centralized and edge processing, and companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google are investing in to meet that demand.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Economics of Internet: Profile: Pinterest: Pinterest has carved out a visual niche for itself in the world of social media, with more than 200 billion "Pins" created since the service launched in 2010.
RECENT EARNINGS
Deutsche Telekom willing to engage with states opposing Sprint/T-Mobile deal: The German operator's CEO Timotheus Höttges said deal remedies "already" addressed some concerns, but Deutsche Telekom is willing to engage with those who filed a lawsuit against the merger between its U.S. unit T-Mobile US and Sprint.
Nozomi Ibayashi, Myungran Ha, Emily Lai, Ed Eduard and Patrick Tibke 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. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.