Japan
Internet
- Softbank Corp. said it expected to be admitted into the Japan Business Federation or Nippon Keidanren. Softbank applied for membership late last year, with sponsorship from Sony Corp's chief corporate adviser. Admission into Keidanren is expected to elevate Softbank's social standing and public trust in the firm, which will be the key to further expansion of its ADSL internet access service, as well as the success of its cellular phone service to be launched in the near future.
Mobile/Wireless
- Vodafone KK said that it will begin offering cellular phones made by Samsung Electronics. Vodafone will offer a Samsung handset for third-generation wireless services that at 14.9mm thickness is the thinnest 3G phone in the world. The handset will feature software for viewing text stored as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. Buttons on the back will be used to operate it like a portable music player to play computer-downloaded songs. Vodafone plans to release the handset in mid-March and expects it to retail for around 15,000 yen ($130). For Samsung, this is the first time its handsets will be available in Japan.
- Usen Corp. plans to initiate four free-of-charge music channels for NTT DoCoMo Inc. FOMA 3G cellular phones. These channels will be playing popular artists' songs and other music 24 hours a day, reusing Usen's cable music service content. Usen said it aims to generate revenue from the service by selling music CDs and ring tones, as well as running commercials on some channels. Usen said it hopes that its music channels will have gathered some 1 million listeners by the end of the first year, and that 50,000 or so of them will buy ring tones or CDs. Usen offers 440 cable music channels, mostly for restaurants, stores and other commercial sites.
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
- Fandango Inc., a Japanese entertainment content distributor, said it has received approval to list on Hercules, the Osaka Securities Exchange. The company, a subsidiary of Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., said it will offer 700,000 shares to the public in its initial public offering, all of which will be newly issued. Daiwa Securities SMBC, the lead underwriter of the offer, also has a green shoe option, allowing it to offer an additional 100,000 shares in the event of exceptional demand. The company said it expects to net 3 billion yen ($26 million) from the IPO.
Semiconductors
- Hitachi, Toshiba and Renesas Technology announced the establishment of a joint planning company that will study the feasibility of an advanced chip production venture. Although Japanese chip makers are at the forefront of the development of ultra-fine chip-processing technology, they have been losing their competitive edge to overseas rivals as their financial status is weaker than such chip makers as Intel Corp. The three Japanese electronics makers have been considering jointly creating a chip foundry venture that would make chips for its parent firms. Renesas is a chip joint venture between Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
- IBM, Sony and Toshiba announced an agreement that would see them jointly developing production technologies for chips with circuit widths of 32 nanometers, a level of technology beyond the next generation. The three companies plan to research basic technologies needed to fabricate 32nm semiconductors by gathering technicians at an IBM research facility and production site in New York over the next five years. Currently, the most advanced chips in the market are fabricated using 65nm technology, with major chipmakers working on development of next-generation chips with 45nm circuit widths. Since 2001, IBM, Sony and Toshiba have been jointly developing the Cell Microprocessor, which will be used in Sony's PlayStation 3 game console due out this year. In addition, Sony and Toshiba are already collaborating on development of 45nm process technologies. The companies expect to start fabricating such chips in volume around 2013.
- Japan said it would slap import duties of 27.2 per cent on computer memory chips made by South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor, a move perceived as retaliation for alleged government subsidies. South Korea and Hynix registered their strong objection to the Japanese decision, even threatening to bring the dispute to the World Trade Organization. Experts, however, said the conflict was not likely to affect the market. The tariff is the first Japan has imposed to counter alleged subsidies by a foreign government and marks the first time for the Japanese government to levy such duties on high-technology products. DRAM chips are widely used in personal computers and are Hynix's mainstay products.
Korea
Mobile/Wireless
- Daishin Securities said that more than 40 percent of handsets available on the market in the latter half of this year would be DMB-enabled handsets. About 70 percent of the handsets will support terrestrial DMB while 30 percent will support satellite DMB service. Experts point to the biggest advantage of terrestrial DMB as being a device that allows the free viewing of programs once users purchase a DMB enabled handset.
- Samsung Electronics, which sold more than 100 million mobile phones last year for the first time, announced its aims to increase sales to 115 million units this year.
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
- Online advertising in South Korea posted a 30.8 percent rise from a year earlier to W684.1 billion ($692.3 million) last year, according to a survey by the Korea Broadcasting Advertising Corp (KOBACO). Internet ad companies are even more optimistic about business conditions this year, predicting that online advertising expenditure will grow 35 percent to W850 billion ($866 million), KOBACO said.
Telecommunications
- Newbridge Capital declared that it does not plan to sell its stake in Hanaro Telecom, Korea's second-largest communications service provider. A consortium comprising Newbridge Capital and American International Group (AIG) invested $1.1 billion in Hanaro Telecom. Newbridge Capital holds 10.7 percent and AIG 13.7 percent. Newbridge Capital is an investment firm dedicated to making direct investments in Asia.
- Terrestrial DMB phones distributed through LG Telecom and KTF collectively have sold 6,800 units in the first two weeks of sale, with LGT posting 3,800 and KTF 3,000. Some retail branches are reportedly going through a shortage of supply. With 6 to 7 more models to come on line within the first half , some industry insiders are projecting DMB phone sales of 100,000 units within the first six months of the year. Other sources point to a projection of 300,000 units as SK Telecom will start distributing Terrestrial DMB phones from the end of March.
- This year, according to Korean telecommunication providers and electronics gadget makers, will be a landmark for information communication advances. By June, two new types of high-speed internet service will begin, one by Korea's largest landline telecommunications company KT, and the other by SK Telecom, the biggest cell phone service carrier. KT plans to invest W500 billion ($506 million) in a next-generation portable internet technology dubbed WiBro this year to provide wider coverage than wireless network services and faster connections than third-generation cell phone services. SK Telecom says it will invest W600 billion ($611.2 million) in a speedy internet service embedded in cell phones called high-speed downlink packet access. The mobile internet, KT says, could bridge its fixed-line telephone dominance into the wireless sector. KT, which controlled 93.1 percent of the fixed-line telephone market and 51 percent of the broadband internet market last year, has not yet gone head-to-head with SK.
China
Internet
- According to the China Internet Network Information Center, China's internet population, already the world's second-largest after the U.S., has surged to 111 million. The number of Chinese people using the Internet grew by 17 million from the same time last year.
- Beijing-based Qunar.com, which launched its Putonghua-language search engine in May last year, said it aims to be the "Google of travel search". The Internet start-up is aiming for a $500 million company valuation by 2009 in Asia's fast-growing search-related advertising market. Qunar is up against more established firms such as travel portals Zuji.com and Ctrip.com, and search engines such as Baidu.com. Qunar believes consumers will find its site more attractive than travel portals because the company scans hundreds of travel sites to find the best airfares and hotel deals. More than 40,000 users visit the site daily. Qunar said Google and Baidu include old pages in their search results while Qunar searches real-time information. The niche focus allows Qunar to charge rates two to three times higher than its bigger search rivals.
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
- Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. announced the signing of a strategic partnership with EMI Music, a leading international independent music company. Under the agreement, Shanda will offer EMI's music content to its user base through its EZ home entertainment platform as well as its online interactive entertainment portal. EMI Music will also provide additional music related content, including artist information and news updates using Shanda's platform. In another report, Shanda announced the relocation of its online music operation from its Beijing office to its main offices in Shanghai in an effort to allow greater integration between Shanda's music business and its home entertainment platform.
- China LotSynergy Holdings, a lottery ticketing systems provider, said it was able to raise HK$661.5 million ($85.3 million) from a top-up share placement, following a company announcement that it would acquire a 50 percent stake in video lottery terminals provider Corich International. China LotSynergy, formerly an online metal trading platform provider WorldMetal Holdings, disclosed its plan to spend HK$980 million ($126.3 million) acquiring a 50 percent stake in Corich. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Tianyi Electronics, Corich has supplied video lottery terminals on an exclusive basis for 10 years to Beijing Lottery Online Technology, the mainland's sole operator of the electronic lottery ticketing systems, which are controlled by the China Welfare Lottery Issuance and Administration Centre. In the middle of last year, it partnered with Australia's Tabcorp to form a joint venture that has an exclusive contract with Beijing Lottery Online to develop the nationwide Keno lottery game platform. Deutsche Bank is the sole placement agent for the transaction.
Mobile/Wireless
- China Mobile (Hong Kong), the Hong Kong-listed arm of the world's largest mobile operator by subscribers, announced the addition of 3.9 million new customers in December 2005. The figure represents its biggest monthly increase last year, and helped raise the carrier's total number of new customers last year to 42.3 million, an 11 percent increase from the 38.1 million added in 2004.
Hardware
- Lenovo Group, the Asia Pacific computer manufacturer giant is said to be seeking a $300 million loan with the aim of using the additional capital to partially refinance the loans it took for the IBM PC takeover last year. ICBC Asia and HSBC are arranging the deal, which is seen as bearing cheaper rates than the previous one. Lenovo secured a $600 million loan to replace a similar-sized bridge loan provided by Goldman Sachs last year.
Telecommunications
Huawei Technologies, China's No. 1 telecommunications equipment maker announced a 40 percent increase in its global sales to $8.2 billion last year. The Shenzhen-based company said its overseas sales accounted for $4.7 billion of the total revenues, which represents more than half of the figure. It was the first year in which overseas sales surpassed domestic sales.
Taiwan
Semiconductors
- Powerchip Semiconductor, a leading memory chip maker in Taiwan, announced that it is taking over a 12-inch-wafer plant from Macronix International for NT$5.3 billion ($165 million). The company said it would utilize the unused plant to increase Powerchip's foundry service capacity. The companies also agreed to work together on production processes involving 90-nanometre and more advanced technology for making nonvolatile memory chips, including flash products. Powerchip makes dynamic random access memory and flash memory chips, as well as offers wafer foundry services, while Macronix is a maker of nonvolatile memory chips. The company revealed a capital expenditure this year expected to be doubled to NT$60 billion ($1.8 billion) from NT$30 billion ($934.1 million), making Powerchip the second largest capital spender in the local chip industry.
Hong Kong
Mobile/Wireless
- The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), disclosed its move to withhold new licenses for broadband wireless technologies such as WiMAX until it becomes clearer how the merging of fixed and mobile services will affect the regulatory regime. The move is seen as conceding to a group of 13 telecommunications and satellite operators that had been questioning the issuance of permits until the regulator addresses other issues. One concern has to do with the interconnection fees mobile operators are required to pay their fixed-line counterparts. The 13 operators have said they could not bid for the spectrum without knowing whether frequencies can be traded or how much mobile and fixed-lined firms will be required to pay each other for interconnection. OFTA expressed its hope to finish its review of the issues in the first half of the year without giving a timeline for the spectrum policy review. The review would be headed by the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau.
Singapore/Malaysia/Philippines/Indonesia
Internet
Siemens announced the launching of its first customer call centre in the Philippines, an offering that is seen as primarily targeted at English-speaking global customers. Siemens, a wholly-owned unit of German giant Siemens, disclosed that the company made an investment of 250 million pesos ($4.7 million) in the 450-seat call center that would house about 700 people by year's end. The company said Siemens also was looking at other locations in the country for future expansion. Outsourcing is the fastest growing industry in the Philippines, and is forecast to grow to $12.4 billion by 2010 from $2.4 billion last year. By February, the Philippines will be hosting 150 call centre companies, where the number of seats rose to 70,000 last year from 40,000 in 2004, according to the country's Department of Trade and Industry. These figures can be placed side by side with the 3 million seats in US-based call centres and more than 200,000 in India in 2004.
A week in tech is brought to you by FinanceAsia, and IRG, Asia's boutique investment bank to the telecoms, media and tech sectors. More can be found at:
