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Trump wants ZTE to pay US$1.3B fine; Facebook sues South Korean watchdog

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

* U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed in a tweet May 25 that he will let ZTE Corp. "reopen" in the country on the condition that it pay a fine of US$1.3 billion and consent to management and board changes, along with other restrictions. ZTE ceased its major operating activities as a result of trade restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce in April.

* Facebook Inc. filed a lawsuit against the Korea Communications Commission to cancel the regulator's order and suspend its effect until the ruling for the case comes out, Yonhap News Agency reported May 16. The social media giant was fined 396 million South Korean won in March for allegedly slowing down access to its services for SK Telecom Co. Ltd., SK Broadband and LG Uplus Corp. subscribers.

JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

* A U.S. jury awarded Apple Inc. US$539 million in damages over the iPhone maker's patent row with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., which has persisted since 2011, Reuters reported May 24. The decision comes after five days of deliberations in a retrial, in order to determine the amount that the Samsung Group unit has to pay Apple. The patent dispute involves the design of iPhones as well as the display of apps on the screen.

* Uber Technologies Inc. obtained the Japanese government's approval to launch a taxi-hailing pilot program in Awaji, a remote island in the country, Bloomberg News reported May 22. Uber primarily operates as a car-hailing service in Tokyo.

CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN

* Taiwan's National Communications Commission fined telcos Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile Co. Ltd. and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. Ltd. for the public chaos brought about by the NT$499 4G package promotion they offered early May, Taiwan News reported May 24. Chunghwa was fined NT$2 million, while the other two were each fined NT$600,000.

* Chinese regulators approved Toshiba Corp.'s pending US$18 billion sale of its memory chip business to a consortium led by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital LP, according to a May 17 statement.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* India's third-largest telco Idea Cellular Ltd. received approval from the Department of Telecommunications to sell about 9,000 stand-alone mobile towers to American Tower Corp.'s India arm for 40 billion rupees, The Economic Times (India) reported May 24, quoting an unnamed DoT official.

* Ericsson AB's insolvency petitions against Reliance Communications Ltd. and its subsidiaries Reliance Infratel Ltd. and Reliance Telecom Ltd. were admitted by the Indian bankruptcy court National Company Law Tribunal, according a May 16 report by The Economic Times (India).

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* Thailand's cabinet approved amendments to a draft data protection law — the first of its kind in the country— which is expected to mirror provisions in the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, Prachachat reported May 25.

* The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade launched an investigation into GrabTaxi Holdings Pte. Ltd.'s acquisition of Uber Technologies' Southeast Asian business, Today Online reported May 18.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* Australia's Office of the eSafety Commissioner called off an upcoming Facebook trial that would ask Australian users to send naked photos of themselves to the social network as it attempts to stop revenge porn, The Australian reported May 25.

* Telstra Corp. Ltd. on May 16 won a court battle against Singtel Optus Pty. Ltd., after the Supreme Court of Victoria ordered Optus to take down advertising materials that claim its network is better than Telstra.

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