TOP NEWS
*LINE Corp.'sback-to-back IPOs in New York and Tokyo raised up to ¥132 billion, or aroundUS$1.26 billion, in the year's largest tech offering, Nikkei Asian Review reports.After catapulting to a close July 14 of $41.58 in New York, the onlinemessaging service's shares ended at ¥4,345 in Tokyo on July 15, up from the IPOprice of ¥3,300.
*Nokia Corp. filed aU.S. federal lawsuit in Texas against Chinese smartphone maker allegingpatent infringement of three 4G technologies and the refusal to negotiatelicensing terms, iFeng Tech reports. Thefiling by Nokia is reportedly intended to prevent Huawei's further push of its4G patent infringement lawsuit against T-Mobile US Inc., as it pertains to Nokia equipment.T-Mobile US is a unit of DeutscheTelekom AG.
PAN-ASIAN NEWS
*Singapore-based startup AirTrunk will spend US$1.7billion to expand its footprint across Asia and Australia, Bloomberg reports.The data center provider will allocate US$928 million in Australia, with plansto set up data centers in Sydney and Melbourne. It also plans to buildfacilities in Singapore and Hong Kong in the future.
*Rakuten Inc., Japan'slargest online shopping mall, is in talks to buy the intellectual-propertyassets of Bitnet Technologies Ltd., bitcoin's payment-processing startup, The Wall Street Journal reports.Rakuten began accepting Bitcoin last year for U.S. purchases., and the Japanesecompany is considering use of Bitnet technology to continue developingblockchain virtual payment record-keeping.
*Tri-Stage Inc., a Japanese teleshopping company, is acquiring a 15% stake inThailand's TV Direct in an effort to boost its presencein the Southeast Asian market, accordingto The Nikkei. The move makesTri-Stage the biggest shareholder in the Thai teleshopping firm; the deal isexpected to be worth ¥1 billion.
*Nintendo Co. Ltd. islaunching a miniature version of its iconic Nintendo Entertainment System fromthe 1980s, the company says.Its unit Nintendo of AmericaInc. will roll out the NES Classic Edition in the U.S. market onNov. 11 at a price of US$59.99, featuring old hit games such as "DonkeyKong" and "Super Mario Bros."
*The Korean Fair Trade Commission held a closed-door meeting July 15 to finalizeits decision on the proposed merger between IPTV provider and cable TV operatorCJ HelloVision,Digital Daily reports.The meeting reportedly focused on concerns over market boundaries and thepossibility of price increases. The result of the meeting will be disclosedearly this week. SK Telecom Co.Ltd. owns SK Broadband, while CJ O Shopping is the parent firm of CJ HelloVision.
*Korean tech giant SamsungElectronics Co. Ltd. will launch a Rio Olympic Games limitededition design of its Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone, Maeil Business Newspaper reports.It will be available online starting today in South Korea and other selectedcountries. SamsungGroup is the parent company of Samsung Electronics.
* AsKorean fans of Nintendo's new mobile game "Pokémon Go" continue toflock to Sokcho, one of the few areas in the country where the game works, thecity government held an emergency meeting to respond to the sudden spike invisitors, The Korea Economic Daily reports.The city reportedly plans to build a "Pokémon Go control tower" toprovide users with relevant information.
*Samsung Electronics AmericaInc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.,will take part in the U.S. administration's Advanced Wireless ResearchInitiative to nurture next-generation telecommunications technologies, YonhapNews Agency reports.The company is set to conduct joint studies with American universities and techcompanies for five years starting in 2017 to develop core technologies for 5Gand the Internet of Things.
,HONG KONG AND TAIWAN
*Tencent Holdings Ltd.'ssocial media platform WeChat is being investigated by China's central bank foralleged fraudulent payment transactions made by users without identityconfirmation, Xinhua News Agency reports.According to the People's Bank of China, online payments require an ID checkand confirmation, and a lawyer based in Shanghai is suing WeChat Pay for notabiding by those rules. WeChat has not denied the claims but says it will assistin the investigation and tighten the ID confirmation process.
*Chinese IT giant BaiduInc. has offered US$437 million to buy a majority stake in theItalian soccer club AC Milan, Sina Sports reports,citing an announcement by state broadcaster CCTV. This reported transactionfollows similar purchases by other Chinese companies: bought amajority stake in Inter Milan for US$307 million in June, and paidUS$400 million for a stake in Manchester City Football Club in December 2015.
*Samsung Electronics Co. repudiated rumors that it is purchasing a 4% stake inChinese electric car company BYDCo. Ltd., People's Daily reports.The two companies confirmed that Samsung is in talks to buy a stake in BYD, butthe amount of shares and the price have not been disclosed.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
*The spectrum auction to determine the fourth mobile service operator inSingapore can start as early as October, Today Online reports,citing the city-state's Infocomm Development Authority. The winning telco wouldbe able to launch services as early as April 2017.
*Singapore-based media distribution company Bomanbridge Media into a volume agreement withVietnam Television for factual shows on nature and science. The multi-programdeal with Vietnam'snational broadcaster includes titles such as "Alert in Deep,""Black Mamba," "Speed Kills," "UntanglingAlzheimer's" and "In Space."
*Two U.S.-based private equity firms, KKR & Co and Warburg Pincus LLC, areconsidering investing US$400 million in the Indonesia-basedmotorcycle ride-hailing app Gojek, business news site Kontan reports.The investment could increase Gojek's valuation to US$1.2 billion, approachingthe valuation of its Singapore-based competitor Grab, which is valued at US$1.6billion.
*Online travel booking website Expedia Inc.'s Thailand unit will inject 1.5 billionThai baht more than it did in 2015 into Thailand, business newspaper Prachachat reports.The budget will be used to boost bookings of the accommodation-and-flightcombo.
*Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd. has invested in Edinburgh,Scotland-based communication technology company pureLifi for an undisclosedamount, The Straits Times reports.PureLifi, which has raised more than US$10 million to date, offers high-speedwireless internet through light spectrum instead of radio frequencies.
*The Thai Ministry of Information and Communication Technology debunked onlinerumors revolving around the proposed Single Gateway project, including theapproval of a 20 billion Thai baht budget, according tonewspaper Krungthep Turakij. Had theproject been approved, Thailand would be forced to have one gateway for itsinternet so that the government could better monitor it.
*The Thai government aims to have the country removed from the U.S. PriorityWatch List for intellectual property in 2017, the Bangkok Post reports.In June, The Economic Crime Suppression Division of the Royal Thai Policereportedly took down an online vendor selling counterfeit software on Facebook.
*Indonesian telco PT XL Axiata Tbkhas started marketing a data package called Paket Combo Xtra to leverage on thepopularity of "Pokémon Go," industry website Indotelko reports.Although Nintendo's hit mobile game has not officially launched in Indonesia,XL expects users will demand a bundled package with high speed and quality inorder to play the game.
AND NEW ZEALAND
*Australia's commercial radio broadcasters are now obliged to pay a license feefor songs streamed over the internet after the release of a copyright tribunalruling, The Australian Financial Reviewreports.The long-running legal altercation between Commercial Radio Australia and thePhonographic Performance Company of Australia, with shareholders includingSony Corp.'sSony Music Australia,Vivendi SA's andWarner Music GroupCorp.'s Warner MusicAustralia Pty. Ltd., has come to an end after the CopyrightTribunal ruled against CRA's claim that it does not need to pay a license feefor streaming songs online after paying a fee for radio broadcast, the reportsaid.
*New Zealand mobile wallet company Semble announcedit will discontinue its mobile payment service following a review. Semble's keystakeholders including Spark, Vodafone NZ, 2degrees, ASB Bank and Bank of New Zealandall took part in the review and mutually agreed on the discontinuation of theservice.
*Shareholders of Australian IT retailer Harris Technology have approved themerger of Anyware Corp., Harris Technology and Shoply, the Australian RadioNetwork reports.This development reportedly comes after online retailer Shoply agreed toacquire 100% of Anyware's stake, which is also the parent firm of HarrisTechnology.
*Complaints to Australia's telco watchdog regarding dismal internet speeds andunstable connections have leapt to over 25%, The Sydney Morning Herald reports,citing finder.com.au. Three years' worth of complaints to thetelecommunications industry ombudsman have revealed that 10,668 new complaintswere filed between January and March 2016 alone, breaking the record in 2013,the report said.
AND SOUTH ASIA
*Eros International'sTrinity Pictures is planningtwo Indo-Chinese co-productions to be released in 2018. Trinity will co-producethe films with China's Peacock Mountain Culture & Media Ltd. and HuaxiaFilm Distribution Co. Ltd.
*Indian travel lifestyle channel Travelxp is planning to launch globally in 4Kby February 2017, Indian Television reports.The channel invested US$2 million in producing content, with 100 hours of ultraHD 4K content now ready and another 50 hours needed before launch.
* AnIndian political party has called for an amendment to the country's Cable TVRegulation Act to increase penalties on those who broadcast illegal content, The Economic Times of India reports.The party also asked to make stricter rules to ensure scrutiny of sensitivecontent.
*The Indian state of Assam raised the entertainment tax on direct-to-homesatellite services by 20%, while the tax on domestic cable TV services wasraised by 100%, Rapid TV News reports.The DTH taxes, which will be imposed on pay TV providers, will increase from 25Indian rupees to 30 rupees per subscriber.
FEATURED NEWS
: Online auctioneer eBay agreed toacquire an independent provider of software that allows large ticket sellers tomanage inventory and distribution, while AMC Entertainment Holdings isconsidering raising its $1.1 billion bid for Carmike Cinemas.
: The EuropeanCommission brought another antitrust charge against Google over its AdSense forSearch platform, while Microsoft won its court appeal over a U.S. governmentrequest to turn over emails stored in an Ireland data center.
: Entertainment giantsAMC Entertainment Holdings and Lions Gate Entertainment notched share gainsafter announcing investments in British companies during the week ended July 15.
: Paramount's war comedy "WhiskeyTango Foxtrot" managed to beat Universal's rom-com "My Big Fat GreekWedding 2" for the top spot on comScore's video-on-demand rankings for theweek ended July 3.
: Take a look at the media and communications editor's topfive picks for the week ended July 15.
:S&P Global Market Intelligence presents the five most read media and communicationsarticles for the week ended July 15.
FEATURED RESEARCH
: Instead of launching newchannels, some of the major media companies are focusing on rebrandingstruggling cable networks to boost consumer demand.
: Nexstar Broadcasting Group continued spinningoff stations to comply with FCC regulations in its Media General acquisition.The deal volume of the sales announced in June far exceeded May's count.
: At the IoTEvolution Expo in Las Vegas, smart-home hubs, kits and devices were key topics.We looked to our latest consumer survey results to put the discussion incontext.
: With all the hype about the Internet ofThings, especially as we look toward the future with 5G, it is key tounderstand where IoT stands among today's consumers.
Joji Sakurai, Myungran Ha,Grace Shao, Ed Eduard and Wil Hathaway contributed to this report. The DailyDose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external linksmay require a subscription.