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China to license virtual telecom operators; India mulls OTT regulation

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China to license virtual telecom operators; India mulls OTT regulation

In this biweekly Asia-Pacific Regulatory Spotlight feature, S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a roundup of significant recent regulatory events in the region.

TOP NEWS

* China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Feb. 24 published a draft decision to grant formal commercial licenses to private virtual telecom operators. All qualified market players including foreign companies can apply for the license.

* The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is weighing a consultation process for the regulation of online video streaming platforms such as Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime and STAR India Pvt. Ltd.'s Hotstar, Mint reported Feb. 1, citing two people familiar with the development.

* Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Qualcomm Inc. said Jan. 31 that they expanded their global patent cross-license agreement, which will see Samsung "withdrawing its interventions" in Qualcomm's appeal of the Korea Fair Trade Commission decision in the Seoul High Court. The alliance could help Qualcomm resolve its antitrust case in South Korea and block a takeover attempt from Broadcom Corp., the London Financial Times reported Feb. 1.

* South Korean law firm Hannuri Law announced that it will file a class-action lawsuit against Apple Inc. and Apple Korea Ltd. over the deliberate iPhone slowdown, which is going to be the third and possibly the biggest suit in the country with over 400,000 complainants, ZDNet Korea reported Jan. 29. The firm plans to file the complaint in March.

JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

* The Korea Communications Commission announced its plan to require smartphone sellers to notify consumers of the subsidies provided by a telco and by a manufacturer separately starting in June, News 1 reported Jan. 30. The commission also plans to measure and disclose the amount of mobile data consumed for map and online media service apps widely used in South Korea, Money Today reported Jan. 30.

* The South Korean Supreme Court ruled in favor of SK Communications Co. Ltd. and ESTsoft Corp. in a data breach lawsuit over the leakage of the personal information of 35 million users in 2011, Digital Daily reported Jan. 28.

* The Korea Communications Commission imposed a collective fine of 50.6 billion won on the country's three major telcos — SK Telecom Co. Ltd., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. — for giving out unfair and excessive subsidies, Yonhap News Agency reported Jan. 24.

* South Korea's Fair Trade Commission started a probe into Naver Corp.'s alleged abuse of market dominance, Yonhap News Agency reported Jan. 23.

* NEC Corp. and Nokia Corp. are under investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission over suspected infringement of patents owned by the U.K.'s Neptune Subsea Acquisitions Ltd., Neptune Subsea IP Ltd. and Texas-based Xtera Inc., according to a Jan. 19 new release.

CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN

* Qualcomm is paying the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission NT$390 million as first of 60 installments of a NT$23.4 billion fine that the regulator charged for anti-trust violations in the country, Reuters reported Jan. 30.

* Miao Wei, China's head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that China did not and cannot force foreign companies to transfer technology into the country and that making such moves are solely the companies' decisions, Global Times reported Jan. 30.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* India's Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal is directing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to "take appropriate action" against telco Reliance Jio for violating tariff reporting rules, The Economic Times of India reported Feb. 1.

* India's telecom department cleared the Bharti Airtel Ltd.-Telenor India merger in its submission to the National Company Law Tribunal, The Economic Times reported Jan. 22.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* Maxis Bhd., Axiata Group Bhd. and Digi.com Bhd. agreed to pay the upfront fee of 118.4 million Malaysian ringgit and the annual fixed fee of 50 million ringgit to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission for the reissuance of their spectrum right, New Straits Times reported Jan. 30.

* Singaporean retailer of Google Inc. Android set-top boxes An-Nahl and its company director Abdul Najib Abdul Aziz intend to contest copyright infringement charges brought against them by StarHub Ltd., Singtel, Fox Networks Group and the Premier League, Channel News Asia reported Jan. 26.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* The New Zealand Commerce Commission said Jan. 19 that it is restarting its study into domestic telecommunication backhaul services to determine whether new regulations are beneficial to consumers.