TOP NEWS
* Reliance Communications Ltd. said the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal stayed insolvency proceedings against the company and its subsidiaries Reliance Infratel Ltd. and Reliance Telecom Ltd. The appellate bankruptcy court also allowed the embattled Indian telco to proceed with the planned sale of its assets to Reliance Jio and Brookfield for an aggregate value of 181 billion Indian rupees. The tribunal's order came after Ericsson India Pvt. Ltd., which initiated the insolvency proceedings, accepted RCom's offer to pay 5.5 billion rupees to settle their dispute over unpaid dues, according to The Hindu.
* New Zealand's Commerce Commission issued a warning to Apple Inc. that it likely has breached the country's Fair Trading Act by misleading customers about their rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act. The commission said Apple told customers that their products were only covered by consumer law for two years, which is considered misleading "as the guarantees in the CGA do not expire after a legally prescribed period of time." The commission also said the iPhone maker was likely to have misled consumers by trying to exclude its liability for non-Apple branded products "when Apple is responsible, as a retailer, for compliance with the consumer guarantees applying to all products it sells, even if it is not the manufacturer."
JAPAN
* Netflix Inc. partnered with cable operator J:COM, owned by KDDI Corp., as the streaming giant grows its footprint in Japan, The Hollywood Reporter said. J:COM will reportedly offer Netflix on its cable systems in the fall of 2019.
* Nintendo Co. Ltd. unveiled two new Pokémon games for the Switch console. "Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu" and "Pokemon: Let's Go Eevee" go on sale Nov. 16. Nintendo is also releasing a Poke Ball Switch controller for the games.
* SoftBank Corp. said it developed a high-security blockchain authentication solution with California-based CloudMinds Technology Inc.
SOUTH KOREA
* Samsung Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. will sell a 0.45% stake in Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. amid pressure on Samsung Group to simplify the cross-shareholding links among its affiliate companies, the Financial Times reported, citing Samsung Life. The boards of Samsung Life and Samsung Fire & Marine approved the plan to divest the stake, which is worth about 1.2 trillion South Korean won, in a block sale before market opening on May 31. The two companies together hold 9.7% of Samsung Electronics.
* LG Electronics Inc. plans to invest 53.6 billion won to acquire a 20% stake in local robot manufacturer Robostar Co. as it aims to bolster its foothold in the next-generation industry, Yonhap News Agency reports, citing a company release. The South Korean electronics giant said it plans to acquire 1.95 million shares around mid-July. In addition, LG will buy 13.4% more of Robostar by the end of next year to increase its stake to 33.4%.
* Samsung Electronics said it started mass production of 32GB DDR4 modules, which will allow PC manufacturers to build high-performance gaming laptops with longer battery life and faster speed.
* D'Live said it has sold more than 200,000 units of its set-top box D'Live Plus since its launch in July 2016. The over-the-top streaming box offers Netflix original programming and more than 20,000 titles of free content.
CHINA, HONG KONG and TAIWAN
* HKBN Group Ltd. acquired Hong Kong-headquartered I Consulting Group, a managed service provider for cloud solutions, for a total consideration of up to HK$200 million. Following the deal, ICG Chairman Andy Lau will retain his position, while Eric Leung will become ICG's CEO and will lead the company's integration into HKBN. The combination provides HKBN with the capacity to offer services related to system integration and network infrastructure.
* ZTE Corp. removed two senior executives from their roles as the U.S. and China continue negotiations on lifting the crippling seven-year export ban imposed on the telecommunications gear-maker, the South China Morning Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Xu Huijun and Huang Dabin, who oversees corporate operations, are no longer performing their usual responsibilities at ZTE, the people said.
* Asia Pacific Telecom Co. Ltd. got approval from Taiwan's National Communications Commission to run 5G trials in three districts in Taipei to prepare for a commercial launch in 2020, Taipei Times reports.
* Traders in mainland China have sold a total of more than US$740 million worth of Tencent Holdings Ltd. shares since May 10, turning to other targets "amid a lack of reasons to push Asia's biggest stock any higher," according to South China Morning Post.
* Baofeng Group Co. Ltd., a Beijing-based video-streaming company, plans to raise 50 million yuan for business development.
* The China Film Association formed a committee for internet movies. According to Mtime, the committee will set standards and guidance for internet moviemakers.
INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA
* India is "open and flexible" to negotiations with Apple for the production of iPhones in the country and is currently waiting for a formal proposal, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told Press Trust of India. The iPhone maker was first reported to be seeking tax concessions from the Indian government in December 2016.
* Tareq Amin, Reliance Jio's former senior vice president of technology development, told The Economic Times that he is taking the chief technology officer role at Rakuten Inc.'s new telecom arm.
* Sri Lanka Telecom PLC said it agreed to build information and communications technology infrastructure for the Urban Development Authority of Sri Lanka's seven new condominiums. Under the agreement, SLT will be the exclusive telecommunication service provider for these housing projects.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
* Discovery Communications LLC's portfolio of 11 channels may be dropped from StarHub Ltd.'s platform following a payment row between the two companies. After June 30, StarHub subscribers will no longer be able to watch Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, Discovery Science, Discovery Asia, Eurosport and Setanta on both StarHub TV and streaming service StarHub Go. Discovery's expanded lifestyle offering, which includes recent additions HGTV, Asian Food Channel, Food Network, and Travel Channel, will also no longer be available on StarHub platforms after Aug. 31.
* Singtel said it will offer data-free streaming with Apple Music. The data-free tie-up with Apple Music in Singapore will allow Singtel postpaid mobile customers to access the streaming service from May 31 at a monthly subscription fee of S$9.98.
* TrueVisions has been licensed by FIFA to broadcast World Cup 2018 matches in Thailand, Post Today reports. The Thai cable and satellite operator will air the matches for free on channels 1, 24 and 34.
* Radio Televisyen Malaysia secured free-to-air broadcast rights to 41 out of 64 matches in the upcoming FIFA World Cup, New Straits Times reports.
* Indonesian telco Smartfren is targeting 10 million new customers in the next 10 months, CNN Indonesia reports. As one of the company's strategies to achieve the goal, Smartfren will cut the cost of its unlimited data plans.
* Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will hold an auction to find contractors to install broadband internet infrastructure in Zone C, which is comprised of 15,732 rural villages, Matichon reports. The budget for Zone C is 18.39 billion baht.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
* REA Group Ltd. said its A$130 million acquisition of Hometrack Australia has been approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The News Corp. subsidiary expects to close the transaction in the coming days.
FEATURED NEWS
Convenience, cost savings drive hospitals' interest in telehealth: More hospitals and health systems are allowing patients to see a doctor from their homes instead of going to overcrowded emergency rooms with conditions such as the flu — a practice known as telehealth.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Technology: Nintendo Switch drives game console sales to new levels: The success of the Nintendo Switch will drive global shipments of game consoles to about 52 million in 2018, while new consoles from Microsoft and Sony also continue to gain momentum.
Joji Sakurai, Nicole Shiwon Kim, Frances Wang, Kevin Osmond 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. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.
