TOPNEWS
* Ten SouthKorean fintech companies are filing a petition with the objecting to AppleInc.'s policy of not opening its near-field communicationprogramming interface to app developers, ET News reports. The companies arguethat the exclusive use of the NFC interface for Apple Pay violates the revisedTelecommunications Business Act by imposing restrictions on other serviceproviders that limit users' choice.
*Sony Corp. ofAmerica, SonyCorp.'s wholly owned subsidiary, purchasedthe remaining 50% stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC from the estate of MichaelJackson for ¥75.8billion, or about US$748 million, giving Sony sole ownership. The deal allowsboth companies to share journalistic and broadcasting talent, and tocross-promote brands. The Jackson estate will continue to hold interests inother music assets, including EMIMusic Publishing, Jackson's personal publishing company MijacMusic, and Jackson's own master recording tapes. The was first announced in March.
PAN-ASIANNEWS
*Facebook Inc. has announcedthe launch of Messenger Lite for emerging markets across the globe, withMalaysia and Sri Lanka amongthe first countries to gain access to the app. The stripped-down version of thesocial media giant's Messenger app is just under 10 MB, uses less data andworks in areas with poor connectivity.
*Sky UK Limited'sproduction and distribution arm Sky Vision sold the factual series "The WineShow" to 99 territories around the globe, World Screen reports.Regionally, the program landed on Australia's and National Geographic Asia.
*U.S.-based international design firm IDEO plans to invest about ¥5 billion in Japanese venture businesses throughan investment fund management firm called D4V, jointly set up with GenuineStartups Ltd., The Nikkei reports.An Apple product design firm aims to expand its business into areas includingfintech.
*Tokyo BroadcastingSystem has announcedthe relaunch of its video-on-demand service TBS On Demand. The premiumstreaming service will enable users to watch the latest dramas and popularshows for a monthly subscription fee of ¥900.
* Japanesepublishing company Kodansha Ltd. complainedthat Amazon.comInc.'s Japanese unit removed more than 1,000 of the publisher'sbooks from its all-you-can-read service Kindle Unlimited without any advancenotice. Kodansha called on Amazon to encourage healthy growth of thesubscription model.
* SouthKorea's SK Group is considering an entry into the data center market byleveraging its subsidiaries, News 1 reports.The conglomerate is reportedly looking at utilizing its memory semiconductorcompany SK Hynix, ITservices provider SK C&C Co. Ltd., and telco to start a newbusiness.
* The Bankof Korea and the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute arein discussions with commercial banks to enable users of mobile payment servicessuch as SamsungGroup's Samsung Pay to withdraw cash from ATMs at any bank, ET Newsreports. Currently, cashwithdrawal and deposit services are only available at ATMs of affiliated banks.
, HONG KONG ANDTAIWAN
*Tencent HoldingsLtd.'s Tencent Music reneweda cooperation agreement with SonyMusic Entertainment Inc. for online digital distribution andmarketing of Sony content to the Chinese market. The companies will worktogether on promotion, management and online distribution of works from localand international artists including Michael Jackson, David Bowie and JustinTimberlake.
* Chinesesocial networking platform RenrenInc. will spin off its newly formed subsidiary, SpinCo, to hold itssocial video platform Woxiu and also help avoid the risk of being deemed aninvestment company under U.S. law, Sina reports.Renren will distribute no less than 80% of SpinCo's shares to its shareholdersupon approval of the spinoff.
*Huawei Technologies Co.Ltd. partnered with Spanish telco Telefónica SA to provide a public cloud and cloudservices initiative in Chile, Brazil and Mexico, Light Reading reports.The project allows enterprises to use computing, storage and backup services ona pay-per-use basis, with Huawei supplying hardware and software tosupport Telefónica's Open Cloud.
* Liu Zhenstepped down from herposition as vice president of Uber Technologies Inc.'s China unit. The move, whichcomes two months after the San Francisco-based ride-hailing service to sell its Chineseoperations to market rival Didi Chuxing, brings about speculation that internalrestructuring could ensue.
* Smartwearable devices vendor FitbitInc. opened its first office in Taiwan, United Daily News reports. The officeemploys approximately 30 people and is expected to do research and developmentin the future.
SOUTHEASTASIA
*Indonesian telco PT XL Axiata Tbk plans to boost customer data usage byexpanding its 3G service instead of 4G, accordingto Indotelko. The company said customers in areas outside Java typically owndevices that support only 2G or 3G.
*Indonesia's PT Palapa Timur Telematika, which is carrying out the Palapa RingEast Package project, received a 4.5 trillion Indonesian rupiah syndicated loanled by Bank BNI 46, Indotelko reports.The project, which is handled by a consortium consisting of Moratelindo, IBSand Smart Telecom, is a fiber-optic installation project to improveconnectivity in Indonesia's eastern provinces.
*Indonesian telco PTTelekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (Telkom) is migrating its Banten-basedhousehold customers' copper wire service to fiber-optic service,Indotelko reports.The migration will reportedly allow customers better access to Telkom'striple-play service IndiHome.
* TwoPhilippine lawmakers submitted a resolution calling onmembers of the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology toinvestigate high mobile charges on internet usage imposed by local networkproviders, The Manila Times reports.House Resolution 400 cites the "slow yet expensive internet" that isreportedly among the slowest in Asia.
*Thailand's National Council for Peace and Order willallow the National Broadcastingand Telecommunications Commission to resume using the universalservice obligation fund for telecoms development for the public, The Nation reports.In 2014, the junta-formed council ordered the regulator to halt use of the fundas its spending was scrutinized.
* Inanother NBTC business, the telecoms regulator will auction off 16 mobilenumbers with repeating digits in December instead of November, accordingto the Bangkok Post. There are atotal of 1,000 so-called lucky phone numbers set aside for the auction, fromwhich the NBTC expects to bring in 1.8 billion Thai baht.
AND NEW ZEALAND
*Australian telco giant TelstraCorp. Ltd. completed a share repurchase for A$1.25 billion,Telecompaper reports.The off-market buyback was priced at A$5.1482 per share.
* Japaneseconsulting group Nomura ResearchInstitute Ltd. is buying AustralianIT business solutions provider ASG Group in a deal valued at A$349 million. The deal,subject to shareholders' and regulatory approval, is expected to close by theend of December. NRI expects to expand its services in Australia via theacquisition.
* TheAustralian government reappointed former Telstra CEO Ziggy Switkowski aschairman of state-owned broadband company NBN Co. Ltd., TheAustralian reports.Switkowski's second term will last for three years.
AND SOUTH ASIA
* On thesecond day of India's spectrum auction, the 700MHz band, steeply priced at 575 billionIndian rupees, did not get any bids despite the increase in overall bids by 32billion rupees, reaching 567.92 billion rupees, The Times of India reports.There were also no bids for spectrum in the 900 MHz band, while the 2,300 MHzand 1,800 MHz bands, which are capable of carrying 4G, are seeing substantialbidding action.
*Reliance CommunicationsLtd. has secured approval by India's Rajasthan High Court for itsacquisition of Russian holding company Sistema JSFC's Indian wireless business Sistema ShyamTeleservices Ltd. The transaction is valued at approximately US$690 million.SSTL, which operates in India under the MTS brand, will hold a stake of around10% in The Reliance-AnilDhirubhai Ambani Group's RCom as part of the deal.
* Amazon ispartnering withIndian filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, Graphic India and Arka Mediaworks to produce"Baahubali: The Lost Legends," an animated series that will featurenew stories about characters from the 2015 live-action blockbuster"Baahubali." The series is set to stream on Amazon Prime Video inIndia in 2017.
* VinodSawhny, CEO of Indian telco Reliance Communications, has resigned for personalreasons, The Economic Times (India)reports,citing a regulatory filing. William Barney and Gurdeep Singh will serve asacting co-CEOs.
*Bangladesh-based telco Grameenphone namedChristopher Laska as the new board chairman. He was previously appointed as aboard director to replace Sigve Brekke, who went on to CEO of Telenor ASA's Telenor Group.
FEATUREDNEWS
: Highlights from S&P Global Market Intelligence'scoverage of the 2016 election season.
: S&P GlobalMarket Intelligence provides a wrap-up of European media and communicationsdeal announcements, completions and updates from Sept. 26 to Sept. 30.
: The U.S.'population is expected to hit 337.4 million in 2022, with the oldestdemographic making up a higher percentage of the total, according to Nielsen'slatest demographic projections.
: S&P Global MarketIntelligence provides a wrap-up of U.S. media and communications dealannouncements and completions from Sept. 26 to Sept. 30.
: Sony added HBO andCinemax to its over-the-top platform PlayStation Vue, while Netflix ordered anew animated comedy, "Pacific Heat," from Australian company WorkingDog Productions.
: Gannett could announcea deal to acquire tronc as early as Oct. 3, while Google tapped Lazard toevaluate a potential bid for Twitter.
: EUantitrust regulators are planning to order Google to stop giving incentives tosmartphone makers for preinstalling Google apps on their devices, whileTelefónica unit O2 is considering selling shares to ordinary investors.
FEATUREDRESEARCH
: Facebook's decision to carveout all mobile messaging functionality on its platform into the stand-aloneFacebook Messenger app may not have been popular with all users but itcontinues to pay big dividends.
: There are moresummer films headed to home video in October, a number of them less than fourmonths after they were released in theaters.
: The second quarter saw more of thesame for the U.S. e-commerce sector, with revenue growth significantlyoutperforming retail sales and Amazon showing no signs of relinquishing itse-commerce crown.
Nozomi Ibayashi,Myungran Ha, Emily Lai, Wil Hathaway and Ed Eduard contributed to this report.The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Someexternal links may require a subscription.