TOP NEWS

* South Korea's stock market is expected to see a surge of shares in Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. worth 15 trillion won, or nearly US$13 billion, as lawmakers and regulators seek to limit the control of family-owned industrial conglomerates over their businesses, Bloomberg News reports. Samsung Life Insurance Co. Ltd. is reportedly under pressure to sell its stock in the electronics arm of Samsung Group, as South Korean President Moon Jae-in's party prepares to pass a bill that prohibits insurance companies from owning more than 3% of an affiliate's assets.

* Tencent Music Entertainment Group will reportedly file an IPO application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on July 6, KrASIA reports. The music-streaming arm of Tencent Holdings Ltd. was earlier reported to be targeting a New York bourse listing, with the public float expected to value the company at more than US$30 billion.

* Wanka Online, a Chinese game developer, filed an IPO application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to raise funds up to US$500 million.

JAPAN

* Rakuten Inc. agreed to acquire Tokyo-based advertising platform developer and provider LOB Inc. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but according to Rakuten, LOB has capital of ¥30.5 million. The Japanese internet service provider will use LOB's technical expertise and development capabilities to develop a global advertising platform.

* SoftBank Group Corp.'s mobile arm SoftBank Corp. entered into an agreement with Lippo Group-owned broadband provider PT Link Net Tbk to develop and deploy internet of things-based solutions across Lippo Group's real estate, healthcare and mobility ecosystems in Indonesia.

* Osaka-based electronics company Elecom Co. Ltd. partnered with BANDAI Co. Ltd. subsidiary Megahouse Corp. to launch an augmented reality-based content distribution service.

* SoftBank Commerce & Service Corp. unit BBSS Corp. said it partnered with Yokohama National University for a joint research project on cybersecurity and internet of things.

SOUTH KOREA

* Kakao Corp.'s board approved the proposed merger of the company with its entertainment subsidiary Kakao M Corp. The combination will build on synergies to boost platform competitiveness by combining content and technologies.

* SK Telecom Co. Ltd. launched a self-defense device designed to look like a lipstick. Called My Hero, the device contacts the police when a user pulls out its cap in an emergency and notifies pre-designated numbers with an alert, also sharing the location of the user.

* LG Electronics Inc. opened its first premium shop in Moscow to promote the brand's signature products in Russia, Yonhap News Agency reports.

CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN

* ZTE Corp. announced a slew of new top executives to comply with a U.S. deal aimed at ending an export ban on the Chinese telecommunications equipment-maker. In a unanimous vote, ZTE's board named Xu Ziyang president, replacing Zhao Xianming. Xu, who joined the company in 1998, has been assistant to the president and product general manager of the CCN core network product line products since 2016. The company also appointed Li Ying executive vice president and CFO.

* Shanghai is looking to strengthen its development of AI-related businesses by setting up investment funds worth at least 100 billion yuan over the next two to three years, according to South China Morning Post.

* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. affiliate Ant Financial Services Group invested an undisclosed sum in Peanut Subway, a Chinese provider of Wi-Fi in subways, China Money Network reports.

* Valeo SA entered into a strategic partnership with Apollo, the autonomous driving platform created by Baidu Inc. The French auto parts maker said it will contribute its expertise in sensors to Baidu's autonomous driving ecosystem. In turn, Valeo will benefit from the Chinese company's range of software, hardware and data tools, including operating systems, high-precision positioning and HD mapping services.

* Nokia Corp. and Tencent inked an agreement to work together on 5G research and development.

* Tik Tok is forming a team of censors in Indonesia to combat "inappropriate content" after the Chinese video app was temporarily banned in the Southeast Asian country, Reuters reports. Indonesia's Minister of Communication and Informatics Rudiantara earlier said that the ban could be lifted after the company cleaned up its content.

* Tencent reached a partnership with Beijing's Palace Museum to launch a comic series, set in the Forbidden City, and for further product developments based on their intellectual properties, Do News reports.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* Reliance Industries Ltd. plans to roll out a new fiber-based broadband and fixed-line network, to be called JioGigafiber, across 1,100 cities in India, Reuters reports, citing Chairman Mukesh Ambani's announcement at the company's 41st annual general meeting. JioGigafiber will be extended to homes, and small, medium-sized and large enterprises and merchants.

* Indian English news channel Times Now ceased its operations in the U.K., Television Post reports. Despite the exit, the channel can still be accessed in the U.K. via the Times Now mobile app and third-party content aggregators.

* Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Network India promoted Aditya Mehta, head of business development, to head of corporate strategy, Television Post reports.

* Nepal Telecom tapped Finland's Tecnotree Oyj to handle the billing system of its international roaming services.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* The Competition & Consumer Commission of Singapore said the merger of GrabTaxi Holdings Pte. Ltd. and Uber Technologies Inc. "substantially lessened" the competition in its hailing services market. To restore market equilibrium, the regulator proposed remedies including abolishing driver restrictions, restoring the premerger pricing algorithm and paying financial penalties.

* Indonesian direct broadcast satellite provider MNC Vision is partnering with Dolby Laboratories Inc. to equip its channels with HD and Dolby Audio features, Okezone reports.

* Adrian Suherman, president director of Indonesian payment platform OVO, said the company plans to launch peer-to-peer lending in the fourth quarter of the year, Reuters reports. OVO, part of Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group, is currently in the process of securing permits from Indonesian financial regulators.

* Thai telco TOT PCL said it made a net profit of 80 million baht for the first five months of 2018, Prachachat reports. The company considers this an improvement from losses of more than 4 billion baht in 2017.

* Honor, a smartphone brand by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., struck a long-term partnership with online retailer Lazada South East Asia Pte. Ltd., Krungthep Turakij reports. The brand also launched its Honor 7A smartphone exclusively on Lazada.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* Indian ride-hailing platform Ola appointed Simon Smith, former CEO of eBay Inc. Australia, as managing director of its Australia operations.

* Singtel Optus Pty. Ltd.'s subsidiary Optus awarded Indian telecom analytics solution provider Subex Ltd. with a multimillion-dollar contract to deploy a network asset management solution that will enable it to control and protect its existing and new network investments.

* Telstra Corp. Ltd. said it switched on its 450th mobile base station built under the government's mobile black spot program. The latest base station to be activated is located in Erub Island, approximately 180 kilometers from the tip of the mainland.

FEATURED NEWS

Techtonic Shift: London tech sector grows up and moves out of Silicon Roundabout: As successful technology startups grow their operations and multinational tech giants look to settle into huge new headquarters, London is seeing its tech sector spill out from its traditional home into other areas of the city.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Broadcast digital and online revenues shrink with spinoffs in Q1: Broadcast digital and online revenue for the 12 covered broadcasters in our analysis decreased on average 21.3% year over year in the first quarter, due largely to TEGNA Inc.'s separation from its digital entities.

Nozomi Ibayashi, Nicole Shiwon Kim, Emily Lai, Ed Eduard 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.