TOPNEWS
*Philippine telco giants PLDTCo. and GlobeTelecom are seeking to halt the regulatory review of their US$1.5 billion jointacquisition for San MiguelCorp.'s telecom unit. The two telcos have each filed caseswith the Court of Appeals, requesting that the Philippine Competition Commissionbe stopped from conducting a full investigation into their deal topurchase SMC's Vega Telecom Inc.
* Growingnumbers of Pokemon Go players in Australia, one of three countries whereNintendo's new mobilegame is available, are complaining of trouble logging in, Reuters reports.Because of concerns that the Japanese firm may not be able to roll the game outglobally as quickly as planned, shares in Nintendo fell nearly 6% in Tokyoearly on July 13 after a three-day surge following the successful U.S. launchof the augmented reality game.
*NTT CommunicationsCorp. receiveda network service license from Myanmar's Ministry of Transport and Communications. NTTCommunications also launched Internet connections for enterprises in Myanmar.The Japanese company plans to offer the service throughout the Yangon area as afirst phase, effective immediately. NTT Communications is a unit of
* Japanesemobile messaging app operator LINE Corp.'s IPO is nearly 25 times oversubscribed,according to lead managers of the dual stock listings in New York and Tokyo, The Nikkei reports.Foreign investors have shown strong interest, with the oversubscription ratioreaching the high-20s multiple range.
* Japanesedata measurement firm ToyoCorp. will collaboratewith U.S.-based SpirentCommunications to offer live and redundant network testing toJapan's UQ Communications Inc. The testing uses Spirent Landslide Core, whichcollects and provides information to UQ operator screens, enabling it toidentify network issues faster, reducing network downtime for end users.
*Accenture Plc has openedthe Accenture Digital Hub in Tokyo. The company will support clients increating new businesses using its knowledge in areas such as artificialintelligence. Clients can also experience its cyberdefense capabilities throughthe Accenture Cyber Fusion Centers.
* Nokia Corp. has announced the expansion of its patent deal withSamsung Electronics Co.Ltd., where both firms will share access to additional patentedtechnologies, details of which were not disclosed. The Finnish tech giant isexpecting to increase the net patent licensing-related sales of its unit NokiaTechnologies to about €950 million.
*Samsung Group'sfuture technology will focus on artificial intelligence and the Internet ofThings, Yonhap News Agency reports.The Korean conglomerate said it will target "on-device deeplearning," a machine learning research method in which computers emulatethe human thinking process and utilize that on technology such as autonomousflying robots and ultrasound devices.
* Korean BroadcastingSystem, South Korea's national public broadcaster, is consideringwithdrawing its free HD digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) service scheduledto commence in August, ET News reports. KBS is reportedlyconcerned that the programming of its OTT subscription service Pooq largelyoverlaps with that of the free HD DMB.
* Korean music streaming service Melon is renovating its offerings andbrand identity for the first time since its launch 12 years ago tocompete with the soon-to-be-launched Apple Music, Financial News reports.Melon's operator, LoEnEntertainment Inc., is a subsidiary of Korean mobile messengergiant Kakao.
* InAugust, Samsung Electronics Co.Ltd. will unveil the Galaxy Note 7 featuring an iris scanner,Financial News reports.The scanner will be reportedly used for various security-required mobileservices such as SamsungGroup's Samsung Pay, as well as tax payments and passport issuance.
, HONG KONG ANDTAIWAN
*Huawei Technologies Co.Ltd., EricssonAB and NokiaCorp. have renewedtheir memorandum of understanding on the operations support systemsinteroperability initiative. Open to other vendors, the new MOU extends theduration and scope of the OSSii to cover IP multimedia subsystems andvirtualized network functions.
* Chineseserver maker Inspurand Ericsson AB have agreed on a new partnership to enter the market of cloudcomputing, TV and media and Internet of Things, according to SohuNews. The two companies previously had a joint venture to develop and pushforward wireless communication technologies and product development.
* The ChineseMinistry of Commerce announced that it will promote the growth of the country'se-commerce sector to an expected goal of 43.8 trillion Chinese yuan by 2020,Iimedia reports. The e-commercesector will boom in the next five years with the government's effort inreaching more efficiency in trade with other countries, and lowering logisticscosts domestically.
* Chinesenews website Ifeng.com says it developedan online game for users to understand the current international dispute inthe South China Sea. The game, called "South China Sea Adventures,"revolves around a fisherman and his family, and their interactions with U.S.,Filipino, Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Chinese navy ships and submarines.
SOUTHEASTASIA
*Apple Inc. andChinese mobile phone producer Xiaomi Inc. have not agreed to comply with theIndonesian government's Domestic Content Levelregulation, accordingto industry website Selular.id. The regulation, locally known as TKDN,requires 4G LTE phones in Indonesia to contain a specific percentage of localhardware or software content. The local distributor of the two brands, ErajayaGroup, is currently trying to convince Apple and Xiaomi to comply.
*Thailand's National Reform Steering Assembly'santi-corruption panel has urged authorities to force cellular operators torefund overcharged fees to customers, the BangkokPost reports.Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS), Total Access Communication Plc (Dtac) andTrue may have to payback as much as 10,000 Thai baht per customer, according to the report.
* The laborunions of Thai state-owned CATTelecom and TOT PLC are objecting to the consolidation of bothcompanies' assets to form new subsidiaries, newspaper Manager Online reports.A formal letter has reportedly been submitted to the prime minister's office,outlining their concerns, including the benefits Thai telco True Corp. couldgain.
*From July 15, all existing and new postpaid customers of -based telco StarHub Ltd. can get free local data access to nineSingapore Press Holdings mobile apps for one year, The Straits Times reports.The apps are AsiaOne, Berita Harian, Lianhe Wanbao, Lianhe Zaobao, The Business Times, The Straits Times, ONE FM91.3, Kiss92 and UFM100.3.
*Indonesia-based telco PTTelekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk launched an app called My TelkomSolution to improve its monitoring on network disruptions with its corporatecustomers, industry website Majalah ICT reports.Through this mobile app, customers can launch a complaint ticket and monitorprogress online without contacting the call center.
*Indonesia's IndosatOoredoo and GPS vehicle tracking company signed a memorandumof understanding to develop an app called You Only Live Once, or Yolo, MajalahICT reports.Yolo, to be offered as an IoT solution for retailers, will enable shop ownersto send information on their products and discounts to nearby users.
*Executives of Norwegian-based Telenor ASA, parent company of Thai mobile networkoperator Dtac, met with Thailand's IT minister, Krungthep Turakij reports.Discussions reportedly included Thailand's digital economy roadmap andTelenor's commitment to the country's telecommunications development.
AND NEW ZEALAND
*Australian sports analytics firm Catapult Group announced a deal to acquireBoston-based sports video analytics company XOS Technologies for A$80.1 millionand Irish firm PlayerTek for A$3.49 million, The Australian Financial Review reports.The deals will combine Catapult's existing GPS tracking systems with the XOSvideo systems used by coaching teams, while the PlayerTek transaction will seeCatapult into selling GPS tracking systems to sports teams and athletes belowthe top leagues.
* A total of58 female-led film projects received nearly A$3.5 million in financing fromScreen Australia as part of its new "Gender Matters" program, accordingto The Hollywood Reporter. Thegovernment-funded agency is aiming to ensure that its production money istargeted to creative teams that are at least 50% female by the end of 2018.
*Virgin Mobile USAInc.'s Australian unit is taking advantage of the Pokemon Go crazeby offering players free phone charging at 52 stores and kiosks across thecountry, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.The augmented reality game, reportedly becoming notorious for draining phonebatteries because of its constant global positioning, was released in Australiaand New Zealand last week. Virgin Mobile is a unit of
AND SOUTH ASIA
* 21st Century FoxInc.'s STAR India Pvt Ltd. is planning to two premium HD sports channels,which will feature international sporting events such as English Premier Leagueand Bundesliga football games. The Indian broadcaster will likely roll out StarSports Select HD1 and Star Sports Select HD2 in the first week of August.
* 's finance ministry has fixed a fee of 1 billionBangladeshi taka for the Airtel Bangladesh-Robi Axiata merger, BDNews24 reports,citing a Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission official. Thelong-awaited decisionregarding the fee was unanimously decided by the finance and telecom ministriesand the BTRC.
* Indianpolitical party-affiliated Madhimugam TV will debut July 14 to viewers in thesouth of India, Indian Television reports.The Tamil satellite TV channel, set up by supporters of politician Vaiko, wouldreportedly serve as a news and entertainment channel and not as a mouthpiece ofVaiko's political party Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
* 's president forrevenue and business development, Joy Chakraborthy, is getting an additionalrole as Forbes India CEO, Indian Television reports.He joined Reliance IndustriesLtd.-owned Network18 in May and previously worked with Star India,Times Group and Zee.
FEATUREDNEWS
: When Verizon closed thedoor on phone subsidies a few years ago, it was hard to know the move wouldnecessitate opening a window to the ABS market.
: Bringhub takes on the e-commerce model with auniversal shopping cart designed to appeal to consumers' and retailers'interests.
: In this monthly feature, S&P Global MarketIntelligence provides a roundup of recent market developments in Denmark,Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland.
:Google and LinkedIn struck a property swap deal that covers 1 million squarefeet of existing buildings and 2.4 million square feet of future developmentcapacity, in Sunnyvale and Mountain View, Calif., while Apple is working todebut an unscripted reality TV show, called "Planet of the Apps."
: AMC Entertainmentstruck a deal to acquire London-based Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group frominvestment firm Terra Firma, while Amazon is preparing to launch itssubscription video-on-demand platform simultaneously in France, Italy andSpain.
LINE offeringa sign of messaging apps' arrival, analysts say: Thebillion-dollar-plus IPO of Japan-based LINE Corp. catapults messaging apps intothe spotlight and could signal a turnaround for a slumping IPO market, analystsand industry observers said.
FEATUREDRESEARCH
: SNL Kagan has published andupdated Global Multichannel & Broadband analysis for three countries.
: SNL Kagan's latest quarterly presentation report examiningindustry trends and data for the global multichannel and connected devicessector.
: See howconsolidation has changed the multichannel landscape with a new animated map.
:The latest edition of the TEPAL pay TV tradeshow was held in Panama June 28 toJune 30, just days after the inauguration of the Panama Canal Expansion
Nozomi Ibayashi, Sunny Um, Grace Shao, WilHathaway and Ed Eduard contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has aneditorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external links may require asubscription.