TOP NEWS

* A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill on May 22 that would ban hardware or software provided by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., ZTE Corp., or any company subject to "extrajudicial direction" by a foreign government from use in domestic 5G networks, among other provisions. The bill, known as the United States 5G Leadership Act of 2019, would direct the Federal Communications Commission to finalize its rulemaking within 90 days of the legislation's enactment into law.

* Panasonic Corp. issued a statement that it will continue to supply Huawei while complying with local laws and regulations in the regions where Panasonic is doing business. Earlier, Reuters reported that Panasonic scaled back its business with Huawei in order to comply with U.S. restrictions on the Chinese company. Toshiba Corp. also temporarily halted supplies to Huawei.

* The convenience offered by internet of things devices comes with unresolved security issues, due to the complexity of systems and the market's immaturity, according to Simon Hu, solutions engineer at AT&T Inc. Cybersecurity Australia.

JAPAN

* NTT DATA Corp., the systems integration arm of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., announced it began marketing what it calls the first digital 3D map covering Japan's entire territory in 50 cm resolution.

* Netflix Inc. greenlighted a new kids animated series from Japan called "Dino Girl Gauko," Variety reported. The program will be created by Akira Shigino, who directed "Crayon Shin-chan" and other animated TV shows. The first season of the series is expected to launch on Netflix in late 2019.

SOUTH KOREA

* Washington has reportedly urged the South Korean government to ban the use of Huawei products, The Chosun Ilbo reported. A U.S. State Department official, in a meeting with a Korean Foreign Ministry official, said that LG U+ uses Huawei's equipment and its services must be restricted in sensitive areas within South Korea.

* In related news, amid reports of the U.S. government pressuring South Korea to shy away from using Huawei equipment, LG U+ said no one from the government asked the company to stop using Huawei equipment, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.

* Kakao Corp.'s blockchain platform Klaytn is expected to tap into the Chinese blockchain market through strategic cooperation with the global blockchain investor Collinstar Capital Pty. Ltd., ZDNet Korea reported. Collinstar Capital will provide financial consulting services to Kakao.

* Seoul Metropolitan government and SK Telecom Co. Ltd. will collaborate to help Seoul apply 5G technologies to its public transportation by installing 5G Advanced Driver Assistance System, or ADAS, to 1,700 vehicles, such as buses and taxis by the second half of 2019, Digital Daily reported. 5G ADAS equips vehicles with functions to alert the driver of a lane deviation to prevent head-on collision.

CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN

* Tencent Holdings Ltd. led an investment of US$250 million in Chinese travel app Beijing Mafengwo Network Technology Co. Ltd., Caixin reported. Other investors included General Atlantic and Qiming Venture Partners. Mafengwo aims to have an IPO within two years.

* Calling Huawei "something that's very dangerous," U.S. President Donald Trump said Huawei could be included in "some kind of a trade deal" with China, Bloomberg News reported. Washington recently put the Chinese company on a blacklist and later issued a temporary license to scale back restrictions on Huawei.

* Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. will continue to manufacture chips for Huawei's chip company HiSilicon, UDN reported. The company said supplying chips to HiSilicon has no compliance issue under the U.S. sanctions against Huawei. Meanwhile, Alexei Kornya, CEO of Russian telco Mobile TeleSystems PJSC, said the company is looking into the possible impact of U.S. restrictions on Huawei, Reuters reported. However, Kornya said the telco is not following Washington's lead in banning the Chinese company at the moment.

* CITIC Telecom International CPC Ltd., a subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Ltd., appointed Derek Ung as general manager, enterprise sales for Singapore.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* WhatsApp Inc. received over 75,000 requests from users inquiring about the authenticity of the messages they received via an India tip line function that was created in April, The Economic Times (India) reported. The India tip line was developed to deal with fake news during the country's general elections.

* Indian Influencer marketing firm Chtrbox, which was previously blamed for leaking private data of about 49 million Instagram Inc.'s influencers and celebrities, has denied any sort of involvement in the matter, The Economic Times (India) reported. Pranay Swarup, chief executive of Chtrbox, said such claims are entirely false and while for a little while, a small part of Chtrbox's database was exposed, it was quickly secured the moment it was identified by the security researcher.

* In the wake of U.S. ban on Huawei, Indian retailers are urging customers to use rival products due to uncertainty surrounding the Chinese firm's future supplies, The Economic Times (India) reported.

* Simran Sethi, director of Netflix international originals, responsible for India content, resigned from the company, Variety reported. She will leave the company following a transition period.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* Finland-based Nokia Corp. will collaborate with Malaysian telco U Mobile Sdn. Bhd. on 5G live network trial in Malaysia. The two companies have also signed a three-year contract for the deployment of Nokia Single Radio Access Network and other technologies to support U Mobile's expansion of the delivery of mobile data services.

* Facebook Asia-Pacific partnered with the Kenan Foundation Asia to launch the "Boost with Facebook" business skills training program in Thailand, Manager reported. The Boost with Facebook program aims to teach low-income Thai residents how to use Facebook and Instagram to build and develop an online business. The program runs from June to November this year.

* True Internet Data Center Co. Ltd. partnered with local artificial intelligence brand Hbot.io to help Thai businesses improve customer data management practices, Manager reported . Hbot builds chatbots that can teach users how to store and manage data more effectively.

* Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority is investigating M1 Ltd.'s fiber service outage that recorded more than 2,400 disruption reports, The New Paper reported. M1 said that its fiber services had been restored following the issue. M1 said that its fiber services had been restored following the issue.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* New Zealand's Commerce Commission issued a warning to Spark New Zealand Ltd. over a likely law breach regarding the company's notification to customers about a broadband price hike, The New Zealand Herald reported. Spark emailed customers in August 2018 and September 2018, notifying its contract copper broadband customers about an NZ$5 price hike a month.

* 5G Networks Ltd. increased its available debt facility with Commonwealth Bank of Australia to A$7.2 million. This put the company in a better position should an appropriate acquisition be presented.

* Spotify Technology SA's chief of corporate-sponsored startup accelerator Slingshot, Karen Lawson, is set to become managing director of Spotify Australia & New Zealand, The Australian Financial Review reported. Lawson will replace Jane Huxley, who left the company back in February.

FEATURED NEWS

Updated China cybersecurity law to add compliance cost for TMT companies: Foreign and domestic technology, media and telecommunications companies will find it increasingly costly to run their businesses in China, experts say.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Multichannel Trends: Cable triple-plays extend declining streak: Multiproduct trends point to broader move towards two-service subscriptions.

Joji Sakurai, Hyegyu Park, Frances Wang, Kevin Osmond 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.