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Alibaba, NetEase deal update; 5G network sharing in China; Facebook's Korea suit

TOP NEWS

* A potential US$2 billion deal between Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and NetEase Inc. has fallen apart due to differences over valuation, KrASIA reported, citing multiple Chinese news sites. Alibaba was planning to buy NetEase's cross border online shopping platform Kaola and merge it into its own Tmall Global, but NetEase CEO Ding Lei vetoed the deal as the company was not satisfied with transaction's price tag.

* China Telecom Corp. Ltd. is willing to team up with competitors to bring down the costs associated with building a 5G mobile network, Reuters reported. Chairman Ke Ruiwen said the company reached a tentative agreement with rival China Unicom Ltd. to jointly build a 5G network where they would share part of the infrastructure. The two carriers said they are also open to working with China Mobile Ltd.

* The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of Facebook Inc. in its lawsuit against the Korea Communications Commission, a verdict that nullifies the commission's measures against the social media giant, Digital Daily reported. The commission said it would appeal the decision. Facebook sued the regulator to contest a 396 million won fine over allegations of network slowdown and limiting user access.

* As faster mobile networking technology arrives in the Asia-Pacific countries, the region's fragmented multiplayer online gaming sector stands to benefit from new investments by livestreaming platforms and gaming companies.

JAPAN

* SoftBank Group Corp. is looking to hire John Pipilis, former head of fixed-income trading at Deutsche Bank AG, to become head of financing at SoftBank Investment Advisers Ltd., Bloomberg News reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. SoftBank Investment Advisers manages the SoftBank Vision Fund LP.

* NTT Docomo Inc.'s venture capital arm NTT Docomo Ventures Inc. announced an unspecified investment in solairo inc., a local web-based customer service platform provider.

* Fujitsu Ltd. and Qualcomm Technologies Inc. have achieved non-stand-alone 5G New Radio data calls on sub-6 GHz and mmWave spectrum bands.

SOUTH KOREA

* SK Telecom Co. Ltd. announced that it now has over 1 million 5G subscribers after launching the first 5G smartphone in April.

* LS Cable & System Ltd. secured a contract from Nepal Doorsanchar Co. Ltd., widely known as Nepal Telecom, to build an optical fiber communication network in Nepal, Yonhap News Agency reported.

CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN

* Apple Inc. is in the final stages of approving flexible organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, screens from China's BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd. for iPhone units in 2020, Nikkei Asian Review reported, citing sources. The tech giant, which is looking to cut costs and reduce reliance on Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., will reportedly decide by year-end on a potential partnership with BOE for OLEDs.

* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has no plans to release a phone this year running on its HarmonyOS, or Hongmeng operating system, CNET reported. Huawei Senior Vice President Vincent Yang said the company wants to maintain "one standard, one ecosystem" and that Harmony remains a second option for now.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* Mumbai-based mobile gaming company Nazara Technologies Ltd. purchased a 67% stake in sports content website Sportskeeda.com for 440 million Indian rupees, Mint reported. Sportskeeda offers news and views on cricket, football, basketball and pro-wrestling.

* Bharti Airtel Ltd. is set to launch a broadband offering to counter Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.'s upcoming fixed-line service JioFiber. According to sources cited by The Economic Times (India), Airtel's Android set-top box may be bundled with integrated tariff packs that will target postpaid mobile users, home broadband and direct-to-home digital TV customers. Airtel may also bundle a free LED TV along with the set-top box on super-premium tariff packs.

* China Mobile Pakistan Ltd., doing business as Zong, successfully conducted 5G trials in Pakistan, Dawn reported. Zong also signed a memorandum of understanding with Huawei to establish a 5G innovation center in Pakistan.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* Facebook removed 211 pages, groups and accounts on the social network and five Instagram LLC accounts for engaging in "coordinated inauthentic behavior" in Myanmar. The social media giant found some of the accounts were linked to individuals associated with the Myanmar military.

* Telecom regulators of the ASEAN member states have agreed that over-the-top content providers should be charged for using national internet resources, Krungthep Turakij reported. However, they have not yet agreed on how this should be done.

* Singtel's pay TV service Singtel TV is expanding its entertainment lineup with the addition of Hong Kong's TVB Jade and TVB Xing He channels to its platform. TVB Jade offers dramas, variety and infotainment programs in original Cantonese audio.

* Venture capital firm East Ventures closed its latest funding round with US$75 million in total investments, which exceeds the firm's initial US$30 million target. Investors in the oversubscribed fund include Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, Razer Inc. co-founder Kaling Lim, Meituan Dianping CEO Wang Xing and Temasek Holdings (Pte.) Ltd.

* Telekom Malaysia's enterprise and public sector business solutions unit, TM One, launched 10 smart solutions, which include connected city and living solutions, connected factory solutions, connected utilities solutions and connected agriculture solutions.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* New Zealand's SKY Network Television Ltd. appointed Philip Bowman as chairman, effective Sept. 1. He succeeds Peter Macourt, who is retiring after holding the board position for 17 years. Bowman previously was a nonexecutive director of U.K.-based broadcaster Sky Ltd.

* Nine Entertainment Co. named Paul Koppelman as its new CFO, effective Sept. 3. Koppelman replaces Greg Barnes, who is leaving the Australian media company at August-end. Prior to joining Nine, Koppelman was CFO of Oracle Corp.-owned construction management software provider Aconex Ltd.

FEATURED NEWS

Apple's new credit card 'an ecosystem lock-in play,' analysts say: While Apple's new credit card is not expected to be a game-changer for the financial services industry, it could help Apple retain iPhone users and drive demand for the company's other products, analysts said.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Economics of Internet: State of Vietnamese online video: subscription: Subscription over-the-top services have yet to make strong inroads in Vietnam given the availability and preference for free content as well as the abundance of illegal streaming services.

Global Multichannel: Global markets update — Thailand: Kagan has recently updated Global Multichannel and Broadband analyses for Thailand, as well as analysis for related operator True Corp.

Joji Sakurai, Hyegyu Park, 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.