TOP NEWS
* Netflix Inc. struck a deal to bring its first mainstream production from India exclusively to the streaming platform. Produced by Bollywood veteran Ronnie Screwvala's new production company RSVP, the romantic comedy "Love Per Square Foot" will become available on Netflix in early 2018.
* Vocus Group Ltd. kicked off the sale process of its New Zealand telecommunications business by making its first pitch to potential buyers. According to The Australian Financial Review, Vocus is seeking more than A$500 million for the unit, with proceeds to be used for paying debt and the development of its Australia-Singapore Cable.
* Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group Corp. held initial talks with Indian online marketplace Paytm Mall for leading an up to US$600 million financing round, two people privy to the deal discussions told Times News Network. SoftBank is likely to put around US$300 million into the service.
* As local content and pricing are key factors for Southeast Asian consumers when selecting a video streaming service, regional players continue to have an edge over global over-the-top players, analysts have said.
PAN-ASIAN NEWS
* Slack Technologies Inc. boosted its team with the recent hiring of Arturo Arrarte, who will be in charge of the company's growth strategy for the Asia-Pacific region, The Australian reports. Arrarte, who previously worked for Salesforce.com Inc. as director of commercial sales, comes in as Slack sets its sights on expanding its footprint in Japan and looking at other opportunities in the region.
* AsiaSat's AsiaSat 9 satellite is now fully operational after successfully migrating all services from AsiaSat 4, offering enhanced direct-to-home, TV distribution, very small aperture terminal broadband and mobility services across the Asia-Pacific region.
JAPAN
* NTT DOCOMO, the mobile arm of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., announced a deal granting Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. a license covering DoCoMo's standard essential patents in exchange for unspecified licensing fees. DoCoMo's patent licensing involves R&D for mobile systems based on W-CDMA, LTE, LTE-Advanced and upcoming 5G standards.
* NTT DATA Services LLC, the U.S. arm of NTT DATA Corp., announced a partnership with New York-based AI and imaging research startup MD.ai for medical imaging.
* Rakuten Inc. is moving into cancer treatment by taking more than a 20% stake in California medical startup Aspyrian Therapeutics Inc., The Nikkei reports. The Japanese electronic commerce and internet company will bring Aspyrian into its consolidated group with an aim to launch a cancer treatment business that leverages health-related data from its online shoppers.
SOUTH KOREA
* SK Broadband added a kids video on demand content channel titled Pororo Tube, dedicated to the popular animation series "Pororo the Little Penguin," through its IPTV service B TV, ZDNet Korea reports. Along with various content related to the animation, the new channel will exclusively stream Pororo English Fairy Tales in December.
* Samsung Electronics will likely adopt LG Display Co. Ltd.'s liquid-crystal display panels for its TVs, The Korea Herald reports. According to a source, the two companies are expected to reach an agreement soon, which will mark the first cooperation case between Samsung and LG.
* Samsung Electronics shares dropped to more than 4% after Morgan Stanley downgraded its view on the South Korean tech conglomerate to "equal weight" from "overweight," Reuters reports. The Morgan Stanley research report said that the company's earnings in the memory segment are not expected to grow materially in 2018.
* Naver Corp. officially announced its plan to merge its social network service subsidiary Camp Mobile, Yonhap News Agency reports. Under the plan aiming at increasing UGC competitiveness, Camp Mobile will be dissolved into Naver on Feb. 1, 2018. Camp Mobile is a developer of SNS service BAND and video messaging app SNOW.
CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN
* Chinese internet company NetEase Inc. participated in a US$200 million funding round for Niantic Inc., the creator of augmented reality game "Pokemon Go," The Wall Street Journal reports.
* China is scheduled to conduct 5G trials in selected cities, Ecns.cn reports, citing a statement from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
* Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s Tencent Games reached a deal with South Korean game developer Bluehole Studio Inc. to publish a mobile version of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" in China, Do News reports. Tencent says that players will be able to experience the PC game on mobile and intend to maintain a consistent experience for existing PC players.
* Three people linked to a Chinese cybersecurity company are charged for launching "coordinated and unauthorized" cyberattacks with others between 2011 and 2017, hacking into the networks of Siemens AG, Trimble Inc. and Moody's Analytics to steal business secrets, Reuters reports, citing U.S. prosecutors.
* Chinese video streaming site Acfun was down for reportedly as long as three days, Tencent News reports. Acfun said in its microblog that there was an "indescribable attack." Chinese streaming site Bilibili reportedly also experienced bugs in its log-in system Nov. 26 but was fixed after an hour.
* Two of China's biggest apps for Uber-like truck services Huochebang and Yunmanman agreed on a merger that would value the new company at over US$2 billion, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. The companies are currently seeking new funding to finance their rapid expansion.
* Chinese AI startup SenseTime group Ltd. signed a strategic partnership with the Shanghai municipal government to invest not less than 6 billion yuan in the city in the next five years, Sina reports. The company will set up a research institute, an AI industrial estate and headquarters for its smart cars, smart education and smart chip businesses in the region.
INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA
* Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video India inked a deal with Lyca Productions for streaming rights to S. Shankar's "2.0," a sequel to the 2010 blockbuster "Enthiran," Variety reports. A theatrical release for the film is due April 2018 and will be available to Prime members in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions.
* Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd. is teaming up with Microsoft Corp. to offer the former's customers with a 1-year subscription to Microsoft Office.
* BSNL is set to sign a memorandum of understanding with Ericsson AB in December as part of "keeping the roadmap for 5G and IoT," Anupam Shrivastava, BSNL's chief managing director told Gizbot.
* China Development Bank filed an insolvency case with India's National Company Law Tribunal against Reliance Communications Ltd., a move that would reportedly be opposed by Indian lenders, The Hindu BusinessLine reports, citing sources close to the development. CDB is a lender to debt-ridden RCom.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
* Philippine telco PLDT Inc.'s digital applications unit Voyager Innovations may bring in a Chinese partner, Reuters reports, citing PLDT Chairman Manuel Pangilinan. PLDT is reportedly open to a partnership with a mainland China-based company.
* Nokia Corp. and StarHub Ltd. have agreed to jointly develop internet of things-enabled applications and services within the scope of connected living, connected vehicles and connected buildings. Services created from the collaboration are expected to be deployed during the first quarter of 2018.
* Nbcuniversal International Networks Ltd. will assume full control of the DreamWorks Channel in Southeast Asia starting Jan. 1, 2018. According to Variety, the move is part of NBCUniversal's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation in 2016. The channel has been operated by HBO Asia since its regional launch.
* Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission rejected TOT's latest business plan for joint 4G services with Dtac TriNet on the 2300MHz band, Manager reports. The NBTC had concerns about the legality of TOT's proposed use of the band for roaming services, and has asked for updated plans to be submitted by the beginning of December.
* In other TOT news, the company extended its satellite rental agreement with Thaicom Public Co. Ltd. for another three years, Prachachat reports. TOT will use Thaicom's satellite broadband service to support high-speed internet in remote areas with poor connectivity.
* Thai pay TV operator TrueVisions will broadcast live coverage of the 2017 International Weightlifting Federation Championship from Nov. 30 to Dec. 6, Khao Sod reports. TrueVisions is expecting strong viewing figures as Thailand has two Olympic gold medalists competing in the tournament.
* Indonesian state-owned telco Telkomsel launched a fleet management solution dubbed Telkomsel Fleet Sight, Tribun News reports.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
* NBN Co. Ltd. said it will halt further orders of the NBN service over Hybrid Coaxial-Fiber, or HFC technology as it introduced new initiatives to raise the quality of service for end users. The new initiatives will be first applied to the network where there are existing end users, and the company will then move on to areas next scheduled in the roll-out queue.
* New Zealand-based telco 2degrees said it will soon launch WiFi Calling, a feature that will allow customers to make calls and texts via Wi-Fi even if there's no mobile reception.
FEATURED NEWS
The Week Ahead: Senate zeroes in on tax reform as FCC tackles net neutrality: Senate leaders are planning to hold a floor vote on a tax reform bill as early as Dec. 30, while the Federal Communications Commission is moving forward on updating its net neutrality regulations.
CAPITAL Letters: Facebook focused on video but economics still fuzzy: A recent visit to Facebook's campus in Menlo Park, Calif., illustrated the company's continued focus on immersive video, including augmented reality and virtual reality.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Technology: Smart TV units to North America hit 9.2M in Q3; 21% of units based on Roku OS: The market for new smart TVs in North America grew 13.6% year on year with an estimated 9.2 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2017.
Joji Sakurai, Nicole Shiwon Kim, Emily Lai, Patrick Tibke and Ed Eduard 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.
