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Takedown strategies against Huawei; blacklist dispute; impact of new US ban

TOP NEWS

* The U.S. is considering ways to obstruct Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.'s lead in the telecom equipment space and to offer funds to its European rivals Nokia Corp. and Ericsson, London's Financial Times reported, citing two sources. The planned funding into Huawei's rivals is intended to allow them to compete with the financing terms the Chinese company offers its clients. Other government officials have proposed that U.S. companies, such as Oracle Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc., enter the radio transmission segment to create a U.S.-based rival to Huawei.

* The U.S. added a number of Chinese entities to its trade blacklist over their alleged involvement in human rights violations, a claim China denied, suggesting it may retaliate. The U.S. Commerce Department added Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd. and 27 other Chinese entities, including Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. Ltd., iFlytek Co. Ltd., Megvii Technology Ltd., SenseTime Group Ltd. and Yitu Technology over alleged human rights violations against Muslim minority groups in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

* The U.S. government's ban on eight Chinese companies from doing business with the country will dampen Megvii's IPO, but have little impact on surveillance companies like Hikvision, according to analysts.

* Revenue from China's film box office during the summer "blackout period" in 2019 dropped to US$1.16 billion. That marks the country's lowest in four years, according to data from box office data provider OpusData and data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

JAPAN

* SoftBank Group Corp.'s September-quarter losses from setbacks such as WeWork Cos. Inc.'s aborted IPO and a plunge in Uber Technologies Inc.'s share price could amount to more than US$5 billion, Bloomberg News reported, citing analysts.

* Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 5 will go on sale during the 2020 year-end holiday season, Nikkei Asian Review reported. The upcoming console will be compatible with ultra high definition 8K graphics and the PlayStation virtual reality headset.

* Rakuten Inc. launched a new video streaming service called NBA Rakuten to stream basketball games from the start of the NBA season on Oct. 23. The service will incorporate Rakuten TV's Rakuten NBA Special content program with the subscription-based NBA League Pass service.

SOUTH KOREA

* SK Telecom Co. Ltd. began preparations to support the dual SIM card function of iPhone 11, ZDNet Korea reported. The latest handset from Apple Inc. is expected to be available in Korea on Oct. 25.

* Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is hosting an event called 2019 Smart Business Expo in Seoul, with a goal to support the smart factories and sales channels of small and medium-sized enterprises, Digital Daily reported. About 130 companies, which previously received Samsung's support in building their smart factories, will take part in the expo.

GREATER CHINA (MAINLAND CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN MARKETS)

* Tencent Holdings Ltd. will refund users who purchased extra services to watch Houston Rockets events, Sina reported. The company also announced that it will join China Central Television in suspending the broadcast of NBA preseason games in China. The suspensions come after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey expressed support for the Hong Kong protests in a tweet.

* Qutoutiao Inc. is working on two short video products in a bid to challenge Beijing ByteDance Technology Co. Ltd.'s TikTok and Kuaishou, 36Kr reported.

* Beijing-based online education platform VIPKid announced the completion of its series E funding round led by Tencent. Financial terms of the round were not disclosed.

* Intel Corp. CEO Bob Swan told Taiwanese suppliers that he is seeking to rely more on non-Chinese suppliers to dodge tariffs spiked by the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, UDN reported. Swan also said the company wants to play an important role in the 5G era by supplying chips to sectors other than the smartphone sector, such as self-driving and retail.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* Samsung plans to add four experience centers in India to showcase its end-to-end internet of things solutions to Indian customers, Mint reported. The new experience centers will likely be located in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.

* Oracle will hire an additional 2,000 staff to aid the global rollout and expansion of its cloud computing services, Reuters reported. Jobs will be added in Oracle's software development hub in India, as well as in Seattle and San Francisco Bay Area.

* Pakistani telecom operator Jazz will stream the Pakistan-Sri Lanka cricket series on its Jazz TV app. Launched early this year, Jazz TV offers more than 60 live channels streaming in Pakistan.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* Singapore-based digital services company Sea Ltd., together with its gaming subsidiary Garena and e-commerce platform Shopee Ltd., inked a memorandum of understanding with Indonesian state-owned mobile carrier PT Telekomunikasi Selular, Sindo reported. The four companies will collaborate in multiple areas, including payment, data and mobile games.

* Temasek Holdings (Pte.) Ltd. is exploring ways to boost its investment in aspiring unicorns, or startups seeking a US$1 billion valuation, Nikkei Asian Review reported. Rohit Sipahimalani, head of Temasek's startup focus, said he expects the fund to make more investments in digital companies in Southeast Asia over the next six to 12 months.

* PT Go-Jek Indonesia appointed George Do as chief information security officer, KrASIA reported, citing an official statement. Before joining the company, Do held a similar position at Equinix Inc. for over 10 years. He started his new role at the Indonesian ride-hailing app in September.

* Thailand's Ministry of Digital Economy and Society said establishments that offer free Wi-Fi must be prepared to submit 90 days of user data to tackle fake news, Matichon reported. The minister said providers will only be asked for such data once an incident has occurred. The search powers are outlined in Section 26 of the new Computer Crimes Act.

* CAT Telecom PCL blocked a fake cosmetics website that defrauded over 1,000 people by offering nonexistent prizes to complete an online survey, Manager reported. The Thai telecom operator said this type of scam is becoming increasingly common and that its findings have been shared with the new Fake News Center of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* Seven West Media Ltd. appointed Charlotte Valente to the newly created position of chief marketing officer. Valente joins the company's newly streamlined, eight-person senior management team reporting directly to Managing Director and CEO James Warburton. Before joining Seven, Valente held marketing roles at companies including APN Outdoor Group Ltd. and British Broadcasting Corp.

* ASX-listed digital advertising company REA Group Ltd. will establish a joint venture with property portal 99.co to create an online property listing platform in Singapore and Indonesia. Under the deal, the existing businesses of REA Group and 99.co in Singapore and Indonesia — 99.co, iProperty.com.sg and Rumah123.com — will be transferred to the joint venture company.

* Nordic Entertainment Group AB-owned content producer DRG struck new deals with broadcasters in Australia and New Zealand, Rapid TV News reported. The deals include Australian Broadcasting Corp. acquiring the ninth season of comedy-drama "Doc Martin" and comedy series "Plebs"; Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Ltd.-owned streaming platform Stan licensing three seasons of Tracey Ullman's Show; Foxtel Cable Television Pty Ltd. securing three history titles launching in Cannes; and SKY Network Television Ltd. acquiring the shows "The Art of Architecture" and "Auction 11."

FEATURED NEWS

5G Focus: Launch in Saudi Arabia; Huawei, Maxis deal; SK Telecom, Rakuten tie-up: 5G Focus is a weekly global roundup of notable 5G trials, launches, use cases and major equipment supply contracts. It will also feature in-depth analysis of strategies, expansion plans, business models and other related initiatives.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Global Multichannel: IBC 2019: European broadcasters turn to SVOD and original production: Traditional linear broadcasters came together at the IBC conference this year to discuss how the environment has changed and what they need to do to survive.

Joji Sakurai, Hyegyu Park, Frances Wang, 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.