China 3G Tests may Signal Technology War

Press Release

ZTE is currently cooperating with China Telecom, the biggest fixed-linetelephone operator in China, to build pilot 3G networks in Shanghai based on TD-SCDMA technology. (...) Recently, at an internal meeting about 3G in Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, experts recommended that China should issue a 3G license to China Telecom first and adopt TD-SCDMA as the 3G technology standard, so as to obtain a headstart in the huge 3G market in the future.

Quick Analysis

Analysys International thinks that 2 conclusions can be drawn from this news:

1. The authority shows its support to TD-SCDMA;
2. It also shows the authority's intention to put pressure on overseas holders of 3G intellectual property rights.

Regarding the maturity of standard, TD-SCDMA is far behind WCDMA and CDMA2000. (...)Considering the maturity of technology, TD-SCDMA hasn't got many proven projects like WCDMA, and the industry chain is not as developed as WCDMA. Therefore, if ChinaTelecom is issued the license first, it will have sufficient time to build up wireless communication infrastructures (mainly capital structures like machinerooms for base stations, lines, etc.) which will enable them to compete with China Mobile and China Unicom as well as get relatively more time of service tuning. This will offset the weakness of an incomplete TD-SCDMA industry chain and lack of proven projects for technology maturity and help TD-SCDMA to make a better performance when competing with WCDMA and CDMA2000.

Analysys International thinks that issuing a TD-SCDMA license to ChinaTelecom also shows consideration to put pressure on overseas holders of 3G intellectual property rights. Vendors who own most WCDMA and CDMA2000 patents such as Qualcomm have been negotiating with the China Academy of Telecommunications Research of MII on patent fees. Analysys International thinks that if China Telecom starts to build TD-SCDMA, it will put pressure on those overseas owners who hold a strong position on the 3G (particularly CDMA2000) patent fees negotiation. The longer the negotiations last, the more likely that WCDMA and CDMA2000 will be in an adverse position in the competition in China's future market.

SOURCE Analysys International

Tencent Joins China's Search Engine Club

From Pacific Epoch:

"Tencent joined the other Chinese portals and launched its own search engine at http://www.soso.com/ recently. According to Sina, Tencent uses Google's technology and may become an Adwords distribution agent for Google. Soso does not have a special name and is called "QQ Search". QQ Search allows searches for web pages, pictures, music, documents, and news."

Related:
China's Sina Corp Officially Launches New Search Engine iAsk
Chinese Portal Sohu Launches Upgraded Search Engine
China's Search Leader Baidu Intends to Stay Independent
Google Strengthenes China Subsidiary Management
Alibaba.com Re-Launches Yahoo! China As Search Brand
Yahoo! China Has 8 Months to Top Baidu or It's "Game Over"

China Internet Network Information Center: China Online Search Market Survey Report (PDF file)

Sohu.com To Launch Internet Television Station

From ChinaTechNews:

"Sohu's (SOHU) senior vice president Gong Yu has told local media that Sohu will launch a P2P (peer-to-peer) network television station called "Wo Xing Wo Xiu" next year. Gong says Sohu will get programs in three ways: purchasing programs from other makers, making the programs by themselves, and collecting originally created content from netizens."

China Starts Building 3G Trials

From The Financial Times:

"China has quietly begun building large-scale trial networks based on its home-grown third-generation (3G) mobile telephone standard, say industry participants.

Construction of the networks in Shanghai and other cities is the strongest evidence yet of China’s determination to create a central role for the TD-SCDMA standard as part of its long-awaited roll-out of 3G services.
It will also fuel expectations that Beijing plans soon to issue a TD-SCDMA licence to China Telecom, the leading fixed-line operator, which is running the Shanghai trial along with two other phone companies."

"State media this week quoted Xi Guohua, information industry vice-minister, as saying “decision time” had arrived for 3G licensing policy and that TD-SCDMA must play a central role. “Now the technology and the industrial chain for this standard has taken shape,” Mr Xi said. “TD-SCDMA must take a place in Chinese 3G and it may be run by a strong operator.”
His remarks were seen as a signal that China Telecom would be soon allowed to build a nationwide TD-SCDMA network."

China's Internet Sector 2006 Preview

From Dow Jones Newswires:

Search Market:
"One of the more interesting battles for consumer attention to watch in 2006 will be the contest between Internet search leaders Baidu.com, Inc. (BIDU), Google Inc. (GOOG) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO). Investors can expect Google to claim an increasing share of China's search market in 2006, as the company's new Beijing and Shanghai based management team begins to leverage the company's legendary marketing strength."

Online Gaming Is Hot:
"Online game developers and operators will be another bright light in China's technology industry in 2006, as early leader Shanda Interactive Entertainment Inc. (SNDA) reportedly plans to spend $20 million in 2006 to promote its new EZ game console platform, and investors watch carefully for early results of this somewhat controversial hardware strategy. Another question is Shanda's long-term strategy of moving mature online games to free operation to encourage spending on "virtual items," and whether other leading game companies will follow Shanda's lead."

"The Yahoo-Alibaba combination is likely to leverage its technology prowess into a run at the online gaming space, either as a game operator or in related areas such as online commerce in virtual items. And investors overlook Tencent's recent entry into the online game space at their peril, considering the company's apparent ability to dominate nearly any Internet sector it chooses to touch, based on its massive population of instant messaging users."

Online video, blogging networks, podcasts, and IPTV:
"The wildest area of China's Internet in 2006 is likely to be the massive conflagration of online video, blogging networks, podcasts, IPTV and other new media that promises to guide the near-term direction of the media sector in China. Yahoo, Google, Sina.com Inc. (SINA), Baidu, Sohu.com Inc. (SOHU) and Netease are likely to lead the charge in these areas, chased by upstarts like Bokee.com, Toodou.com and countless others."

Google, Microsoft Settle Dispute over China Exec

From Reuters:

"Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday they agreed to settle pending litigation that had barred a former Microsoft executive from heading up the Web search firm's research efforts in China.

Microsoft said the former executive, Kai-fu Lee, Google and Microsoft had reached a mutual agreement and had agreed not to disclose specific terms."

"Lee was hired from Microsoft by Google to head up Google's research efforts in China.
He had established Microsoft's research and development center in Beijing before moving to Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters to work on software that allows computers to process speech using conversational language."

Related:
Kai Fu Lee Follows His Heart to Googles Research Labs in China
Google China Selects Chief Marketing Officer
Google Strengthenes China Subsidiary Management
Google Confirms Appointment of Johnny Chou as President

Lenovo Names Dell Executive New CEO

From Newsfactor.com:

"Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. said Wednesday it has named former Dell Inc. executive William J. Amelio as its new chief executive and president. Amelio, 48, replaces outgoing head Steve Ward, a transition figure after Lenovo's takeover of IBM's personal computing business last May.

Amelio's appointment marks a turning point for the world's No. 3 computer manufacturer after its IBM acquisition -- the biggest foreign takeover by a Chinese company, said Yang Yuanqing, chairman of Lenovo Group Ltd.

"With our integration of IBM's PC division on track and our organizational integration complete, we are accelerating our planning for our next phase of growth," Yang said in a statement issued in Hong Kong, where the company is listed."

Beijing 2008 Olympics - China's IT Gold

From CMPnetAsia:

"The 2008 Beijing Olympics is shaping up to be one of the biggest mega-event showcases for China — and this is driving IT developments in the country. It is the first time the Olympics is going to be held in China, and the Chinese government wants to impress the international world audience and put China firmly on the who’s who map of the 21st century athletically, economically, and culturally. In IT as well, this is no exception and the Chinese government seems determined to make a splash.

According to a recent October report from research firm Gartner, the Chinese government has announced its intention to make 3G services available in time for the Beijing Olympics. For China to meet the 2008 deadline, Gartner expects no more than three nationwide 3G licenses to be issued by the middle of 2006."

"According to Gartner’s analysis, they expect there will be no build-out of 3G networks from scratch, and all 3G rollouts will be migrating from established 2G networks. This means that incumbent 2G vendors will have a “significant advantage” to start because of the large presence they have in the marketplace. In other words, telephony vendors that already have a sizeable market share in China’s three carriers are likely to do even better when 3G starts being rolled out."

Related:
Chinese Portal Sohu Selected as Official Sponsor of Internet Content Service (ICS) for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Siemens Breaks Into Chinese IPTV

From Light Reading:

"Siemens Communications Group has edged its way into the fast-developing Chinese IPTV market that has so far been dominated by indigenous vendors such as ZTE Corp.
Andreas Müller-Schubert, president of fixed network solutions at Siemens Communications, says his firm is providing China Telecommunications Corp. subsidiary Shanghai Telecom with a full range of IPTV-enabling technology for a trial that will involve 5,000 homes by next February.

Rival vendor UTStarcom Inc. is also engaged with Shanghai Telecom in IPTV trials.

Siemens is providing: its own set-top boxes and IPTV middleware (the Myrio system); head-end encoding equipment from Tandberg Television ; video servers from C-COR Corp.; and digital rights management technology from Verimatrix Inc.. Financial details were not released."

Related:
UT-Starcom to Focus on IPTV
Huawei, ZTE, UTStarcom Share China's IPTV Deals
The Future of China's IPTV Market

Newcomers Rush into China's C2C Market

From ShanghaiDaily:

"While eBay and Alibaba argue about who's No. 1 in China's online auction sector, newcomers such as online chat provider Tencent and cyber retailer dangdang.com have debuted their own consumer-to-consumer services to tap a market valued at 6.7 billion yuan (US$832.9 million).

Tencent launched its C2C service in September and now lists 1.1 million products online from 70,000 sellers. Its registered members have reached 2.13 million, one-fifth of Alibaba's taobao.com and one-seventh of eBay's, according to Tencent, whose QQ chat service has attracted more than 100 million users."

"Meanwhile, dangdang.com said recently in Shanghai it will invest 400 million yuan to expand its C2C business scope and will kick off the service in January. The company is now known for its competitively priced books, audio and video CDs and has 15.6 million registered users."

Related:
China's C2C Market Size Doubled by Q3 2005
eBay China to Provide Free Services for Cyber Shop Owners

China Economy Much Bigger than Thought

From Bloomberg: Size Matters and China Just Got Much Bigger

"China's bean counters came across something extraordinary while going over a few numbers: a statistical error the size of Austria.
Once corrected, China's economy turned out to be $285 billion, or 17 percent, larger than previously estimated. While that doesn't alter the economy's basic structure or make China's 1.3 billion people richer overnight, the discovery is a sign of the profound changes taking place in the world economy."

"Think about it: Within its borders, China has found an economy roughly the size of Austria's or Indonesia's. The difference is equal to the combined annual output of Argentina, Venezuela and Ecuador. Now that's a revision!"

"An economy few central bankers, economists and pundits thought about three years ago just leapfrogged over the U.K., France and Italy to become the world's fourth largest. Not only does that make the Group of Seven nations look less relevant than ever, it also boosts China's global clout overnight."

eBay China to Provide Free Services for Cyber Shop Owners

From ShanghaiDaily:

"Online auction house eBay China said yesterday it will provide free services for cyber shop owners starting today. The move aims to compete with rival taobao.com, a subsidiary of Jack Ma's Alibaba.com Inc, which has promised free service until 2008.

EBay China said it will stop charging sellers for establishing online shops but will still charge users for listing products in the shops and collect a commission on completed deals. The Website previously charged users 35 to 500 yuan (US$62) a month for each online shop and 0.20 yuan for each product displayed."

Related:
China's C2C Market Size Doubled by Q3 2005; Taobao Likely to Surpass eBay in 2006
Statement from eBay Regarding Taobao's Pricing Challenge
Chinese Auction War: Taobao.com to be Free of Charge for Three More Years

UT-Starcom to Focus on IPTV

From TMCnet:

"According to a news release, Wu Ying, president of UT-Starcom, told the Beijing Morning Post today that the company is making adjustments to its development strategy, but as of yet is not ready to completely abandon 3G."

"Wu said due to the change of the market and China’s delay of issuing 3G license, UT-Starcom will now focus on technologies which can bring direct profits, such as CDMA2000. The shift in focus means UT-Starcom could give up WCDMA, the European 3G standard."

"Wu said the company will now focus on IPTV, PHS (personal handset system) and mobile phones, aiming at making profits next year with IPTV. The company is reportedly planning to spend about $1.25 billion (U.S.) for IPTV."

Related:
Huawei, ZTE, UTStarcom Share China's IPTV Deals
The Future of China's IPTV Market
UTStarcom's mVision to Power China Telecom’s IPTV

Google Not to Raise Stake in Baidu

From Reuters:

"Web search leader Google Inc. said on Monday it may not raise its small stake in China's top search engine Baidu.com, even as competition rises in the fast growing sector.

"We have a very small stake in the company, which is a strategic investment that was made a while back, but as far as I know there aren't any plans beyond that," Daniel Alegre, the director of international Websearch & Syndication, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.

Google owns 2.6 percent of Baidu, and was believed to be seeking to boost its stake prior to the Chinese company's hugely successful initial public offering in August."

Related:
China's Search Leader Baidu Intends to Stay Independent

China's Top 3 Online Games: World of Warcraft, QQ Fantasy, Fantasy Westward Journey

From Pacific Epoch:

"Chinese online game prepaid card distributor Junnet conducted its 11th national Internet cafe survey from November 28 to December 7, Sina reports. Junnet surveyed 550 Internet cafes and around 35,000 online gamers. According to the survey, the top three games are The9's (Nasdaq: NCTY) World of Warcraft (WoW), Tencent's (0700.HK) QQ Fantasy and Netease's (Nasdaq: NTES) Fantasy Westward Journey. QQ Fantasy has seen a rapid rise in number of players since it was launched in October, beating out Fantasy Westward Journey for second place."

ZTE Supplies 3G Handsets to Hutchison 3G UK

From DMasia.com

"Chinese telecommunications equipment supplier ZTE has signed an agreement with Hutchison 3G of the UK to provide 3G handsets. The first batch of ZTE-3 co-branded WCDMA handsets have been shipped and are being launched before Christmas."

"With the contract, ZTE increases its global presence. The company signed a research and development deal with France Telecom earlier this month."

Hutchison 3G has operated 3G services in nine countries and regions, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Australia and Hong Kong with more than 10 million subscribers.

Related:
China's ZTE, France Télécom Partner on Linux Mobile Handsets
China's Telecoms Manufacturer ZTE Forges Alliance with Cisco
ZTE Aims to Penetrate North American Market

Why China is Top in Tech Gear

From BusinessWeek:

"Beijing-bashers, take note: You now have another reason to rail against China. On Dec. 12, the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) announced that China has surpassed the U.S. to become the world's No.1 exporter of tech gear.

The news rounds out a year when Chinese high-tech companies raised their profile worldwide: Lenovo, China's top computer brand, took over IBM's (IBM) PC division. Huawei Technologies, the leading Chinese telecom- and networking-equipment maker, accelerated its overseas expansion. And ZTE, Huawei's cross-town rival in the southern city of Shenzhen, won new customers in developing markets in Asia and Africa, while also teaming up with Cisco Systems (CSCO).

What's behind this success? For Beijing's many critics in Washington, the answer is easy: China cheats. Whether it's by depressing its currency's value or by stealing and copying American ideas, the argument goes, the Chinese simply don't play fair. So, the critics reckon, it's no wonder China has become the world's biggest exporter of electronics. An unfair argument? Here's a look behind the hype to see what has driven China's climb."


In the article the BusinessWeek tries to answer the following questions:

Are all of those high-tech exports really Chinese? Or are they made by companies based elsewhere that have shifted manufacturing to China?

If so much of the money comes from abroad, are foreigners behind China's high-tech companies?

Are Chinese winning the export game because they have an unfair advantage at home?

How successful have Chinese tech brands been so far?

If the Chinese are so good at high-tech hardware, why isn't China also a software power?

In which areas may we see China next overtake the U.S. in tech exports?

China's Baidu Confirms to Release 3 mln Lock-up Shares Early

From Forbes:

"China's online search company Baidu.com confirmed it will release three mln lock-up shares sooner than originally planned in a bid to increase liquidity and attract institutional investors to the stock.

'Our public float is only 4.6 mln shares and investors have been very enthusiastic about Baidu's stock, so increasing liquidity will encourage institutional shareholders to invest in Baidu,' said Baidu spokeswoman, Cynthia He.

About 23 pct of outstanding shares in Baidu, which is China's leading Internet search engine, will be available for trading after the three mln shares join the 4.6 mln at present in the market. "

China is the World’s Largest IT Exporter

From The Financial Times:

"China has become the world’s largest exporter of information and communication technology goods, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported on Monday.

After it overtook the European Union and Japan in 2003, China’s IT exports soared 46 per cent to $180bn (€151bn, £102bn) in 2004, surpassing those of the US by more than $30bn, the OECD said. Chinese exports were even greater if goods shipped through Hong Kong were included, it said.

The report highlights the vital role played by China in the global supply chain for IT products ranging from mobile phones to personal computers. It will also fuel concerns in the US and elsewhere that China is poised to become a dominant player in the IT industry. Such fears have already been raised by the emergence of Chinese technology companies such as Lenovo, which bought IBM’s PC division this year."

China's Search Leader Baidu Releases Top China Keywords

From CHINAdaily:

"Chinese domestic search engine Baidu.com has released a list of 13 most popular keywords, according to hits from internet users.

The 13 keywords cover nearly every aspect of life in China. The most typed news keyword is "Shenzhou VI Spacecraft". The hottest event belongs to "Bird Flu". "The Myth" took the hottest movie keyword, and "Super voice girl" the most popular TV program.
The most popular person of the year is professor Lang Xianping of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The hottest sports star is Liu Xiang and Chinese literary legend Bai Jin gets the title for hottest keyword in literature.

The most famous person on the internet is, without a doubt, Furong Jiejie."

From Wikipedia:
Shi Hengxia (born 1977) is a woman from a peasant family in a small town in Shaanxi (a north-central province of the China) who received world-wide notoriety in 2005 for her postings on the internet.
"Usually referred to as frjj, short for "Furong Jiejie," Sister Hibiscus' apparently misplaced confidence in her looks, writing and dancing ability has made her something of an Internet legend."

China Online Gaming Report

From Bill Bihop's Blog "billsdue":

"A good initiation on the sector from the Antonio Tambunan, the new Bear Stearns Analyst covering the China game sector. He knows his stuff; he is a hardcore gamer."

Download Bear Stearns Online Game Report

Shanda Acquires Casual Online Games Platform Gametea

Press Release

SHANGHAI, China, Dec. 8 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ: SNDA) , a leading interactive entertainment media company, today announced that it has completed the cash purchase of 100% equity interest in Gametea (http://www.gametea.com/), a leading online casual games platform that develops and operates chess and board games in China. An upfront consideration was paid in cash at closing, with the remaining consideration to be paid in two installments in 2006 and 2007.

Founded in 1998, Gametea has 11.5 million registered users from 28 cities throughout China and offers more than 90 online casual games, including poker games, board games, mahjong and other contest games. According to data provided by Gametea's management, it had over 1.5 million active users in November 2005 and its game platform recently attracted close to 90,000 peak concurrent users. Gametea generates revenue through the sales of virtual in-game items and advertisements on the game platform.

"Following the acquisition of Bianfeng, the addition of Gametea solidifies Shanda's leading position in Chinese casual games market. With approximately 500,000 peak concurrent users from both Bianfeng and Gametea, we have built one of the largest chess and board game platforms in China," commented Tianqiao Chen, CEO of Shanda, "We believe online game is a key application on our integrated interactive entertainment platform, and that this acquisition will further expand our user foundation and aid the implementation of our home strategy."

China's C2C Market Size Doubled by Q3 2005; Taobao Likely to Surpass eBay in 2006

Press Release

Analysys International, a leading Internet-based business information service provider, says that China's C2C market has grown dramatically and Taobao's subscribers will likely surpass eBay in 8 months in its recently released data report: Quarterly Tracker on China's C2C Market 2005-Q3.
According to the study, the number of China's registered C2C market subscribers in 2004 was 15.08 million, while by the end of Q3 2005, the total had reached 29.84 million, which is almost double in only 9 months. Among which, subscribers of eBay alone reached 15.10 million, with Taobao.com close behind. From the transaction handled perspective, China's total C2C market size in the first three quarters of 2005 reached RMB8.77 billion, which is almost twice that of the annual turnover of 2004. So far this year, Taobao.com lead the market with a 57.1% share in terms of transaction handled, with its turnover in Q1 at RMB1.02 billion, Q2 at 1.67 billion and Q3 at 2.32 billion.

Based on further research regarding the growth rate and the development trend, Analysys International thinks Taobao's subscribers will likely surpass eBay in the first half of next year. Meanwhile, as Taobao's advantage over eBay in turnover keeps on increasing, till then, Taobao will lead China's C2C market in terms of both subscribers and transaction handled.
(...)

SOURCE Analysys International

Related:
China Auction Market News: Alibaba, Microsoft, Taobao
Statement from eBay Regarding Taobao's Pricing Challenge
Chinese Auction War: Taobao.com to be Free of Charge for Three More Years
Is eBay Dead in China?

Robin Li - The Man behind China's Answer to Google

From The Guardian Unlimited:

"To his many domestic admirers, the multimillionaire pin-up is a model internet entrepreneur who has beaten off some of the world's most powerful multinationals. But his detractors, particularly in the global entertainment industry, accuse him of being the navigator-in-chief for an armada of online music pirates.

The 37-year-old founder and chief executive says he does not have much time either for plaudits or criticism. He is too busy trying to keep ahead of the rapid changes in the Chinese internet and building an empire that may one day, he predicts, pose a challenge to Bill Gates' Microsoft.

That may sound ambitious for a company that few people outside China have heard of, but Li has already come a long way in a very short space of time. Since he entered the business four years ago, Baidu has rapidly overtaken Google and Yahoo! as the leading Chinese search engine. It is easily China's most popular navigation site - its directory of a billion web pages is used by 90m people a day out of an online population of 100m."

"Li knows the big IT players in the United States. A native of Shanxi province to the west of Beijing, in 1991 he went to the US for postgraduate study and worked for Dow Jones in New Jersey and then Infoseek in Silicon Valley. Having seen the internet at first hand on both sides of the Pacific, he says there are major cultural differences that make it difficult for a foreign firm - no matter how wealthy - to make inroads in China. The country's top three portals are all Chinese, even though Yahoo! has been trying for seven years to establish a presence. The two big online game firms, Shanda and Netease, are also Chinese. Li says the same home advantage applies to the search engine business."

"Asked about Bill Gates' recent comment that Google is becoming more influential, Li says the Microsoft chairman should watch out for the challenge from China.

"If he is worried about Google he will probably be more worried about Baidu somewhere down the road," he says. "When the Chinese market stops growing faster than other countries in the world, we will look outside. The reason we focus here now is that this is the fastest growing market we can access." "

Sina's Search Engine iAsk Launches Local Search

From ChinaTechNews:

"Sina.com (SINA) has launched its iAsk local search engine in Chongqing, becoming the third search engine in China behind Baidu and Google to provide such service. Sina will also open local search services in Jinan, Qingdao, Chengdu and Nanjing. Sina says these cities were chosen because they are home to many small and medium-sized enterprises.

Wang Yan, CEO of Sina, admits that are differences between iAsk and Baidu/Google in market share and public awareness, but he thinks iAsk is no less advanced than the latter two in technology."

Related:
China's Sina Corp Officially Launches New Search Engine iAsk

Zhongsou.com Wages Search Engine Legal Battle With Yahoo! China

From People's Daily Online:

"A civil action proceeding arising from Yahoo China's uninstall of Netpig cross-word search function was eventually started. Zhongsou.com said Dec. 5 it has lodged a lawsuit in the Haidian District People's Court on Dec. 2 requiring Yahoo China to immediately stop infringing on zhongsou.com with its Yisou Tool Bar, publicly apologize to zhongsou.com and restore users' Netpig search function affected by it. Yahoo China said it has not received any relevant legal documents regarding the matter.

Zhongsou said since Nov. 17 Yahoo China, taking advantage of upgrading its Yisou Tool Bar, has wantonly deleted zhongsou.com Netpig's cross-word search function resulting in users unable to use normally the cross-word search function and serious infringement on Netpig users' interests."

Related:
Yahoo! China Has 8 Months to Top Baidu or It's "Game Over"
Google China Selects Chief Marketing Officer
Chinese Portal Sohu Launches Upgraded Search Engine
Chinese Search Engine Zhongsou To Get US$6M From IDG And Legend Capital


From webpronews: Yahoo China Still A Portal

"The exclamation point Alibaba put on search by redesigning the Yahoo China homepage doesn't mean the company has given up on being a portal.

It's a sharper focus on search and developing it that led Alibaba to overhaul and simplify the homepage for Yahoo China, CEO Jack Ma said in a report.

Developing search will be at the top of Yahoo China's to-do list, and no wonder. A growing base of over 100 million Internet users, and the entry of Google and Microsoft into the Chinese search market, means a lot of hands will be grabbing for pieces of the search advertising revenue in the country."

Related:
Alibaba.com Re-Launches Yahoo! China As Search Brand

China's ZTE, France Télécom Partner on Linux Mobile Handsets

From 3G.co.uk:

"ZTE and France Telecom are delighted to announce the signature of an agreement today paving the way for a long-term partnership to work together on a wide range of sectors. The agreement was signed by Mr. Yin Yimin, ZTE's Chief Executive Office - CEO and Mr. Didier Lombard, France Telecom's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, at the time of the Chinese Prime Minister Mr. Wen Jiabao's visit to France.

This important R&D partnership will be rolled out with initiatives between the two groups to cooperate on key telecommunications and IT fields. To begin with, they will focus on applying the Linux operating system for 3-G-technology smartphone handsets, with the development of a particularly innovative client interface."

ZTE Beats Huawei in Race to Form a Joint Venture with India's Largest Telco

From Business Standard:

"Telecom vendor Huawei Technologies has lost out to another Chinese equipment vendor, ZTE Corporation, in the race to form a 50:50 joint venture with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for manufacturing CDMA mobile handsets and fixed wireless terminals."

"BSNL has already initiated talks with ZTE to work out the modalities of the joint venture and the details would be announced soon, the executive said. The deal would involve technology transfer as well as transfer of machinery.

To begin with, the JV would include the manufacture of a million CDMA-based mobile handsets and an equal number of fixed wireless telephones (FWTs). Company executives confirmed that the JV would initially manufacture from BSNL's unit in Kolkata."

China Net Investor: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) is the No. 1 telecommunications company and the largest public sector undertaking of India

Branson's Virgin Group Searching for China Mobile Deal

From Reuters:

"A year after announcing he aimed to set up a mobile reselling service in China, Richard Branson said on Monday his Virgin Group was still trying to get a slice of the world's biggest cellular market.

Branson said last December his company was in talks with a Chinese telecom operator with an eye to investing up to $300 million (173 million pounds) to launch a joint venture in the market.
He declined to name potential partners, though one publication said the field may include China Telecom Corp. Ltd., the nation's largest fixed-line carrier, and China Unicom Ltd., its number-two mobile carrier.

Virgin's mobile arm, Virgin Mobile Holdings, has similar deals in other markets such as the United States and Australia, forming alliances with existing carriers and then reselling service under the Virgin Mobile name."

Yahoo, Firefox Partner In Asian Market

From TheSearchEngineJournal:

"As Mozilla celebrates the 1st anniversary of Firefox (post beta) distribution with the release of Mozilla Firefox 1.5, Yahoo and Mozilla have announced an agreement which is sure to assist with the marketing of Mozilla Firefox in the Asian market while fortifying Yahoo’s strong grasp of search and portal users. Yahoo and Mozilla have announced that Yahoo will be the default search engine and power the default homepage for Mozilla Firefox browsers which are distributed throughout China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. From Yahoo : “Per the agreement, Yahoo! will now distribute Firefox 1.5 in those markets and will be the default search engine on Firefox 1.5 in each of those countries.“

Although Google is Mozilla’s premier distribution and search partner in the US, Yahoo has made a strong play by partnering with Mozilla in the Asian market."

Related:

Yahoo! China Has 8 Months to Top Baidu or It's "Game Over"

Alibaba.com Re-Launches Yahoo! China As Search Brand

Yahoo Is Paying $1 Billion for 40% Stake in Alibaba

Cisco and Juniper Land Important China Deals

Press Release

Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System Takes ChinaNet IP NGN to New Levels; China Telecom Selects Cisco Technology For Its Business Transformation and Future Growth

"Nov. 30, 2005--Cisco Systems(R) today announced that China Telecom will adopt the Cisco(R) CRS-1 Carrier Routing System to integrate the supercore network nodes of ChinaNet, the largest Internet Protocol (IP) service network in China. With this seventh upgrade of its backbone network, China Telecom is continuing its transformation from a network carrier into an "integrated information service provider," the company's growth goal through technological advancement and service creation."

"ChinaNet currently has more than 21 million broadband subscribers, with a total capacity of 4,000 gigabits per second (Gbps), accounting for more than half of China's bandwidth for Internet services. In order to satisfy the needs of the rapidly escalating number of broadband subscribers and advanced multimedia applications, ChinaNet has required a continuous upgrade of its backbone bandwidth. The latest enhancement will anticipate this future demand with higher network availability and scalability." Link




Press Release

Juniper Networks Routing Platforms Form Core of China’s Next-Generation Internet

"SUNNYVALE, Calif., November 30th, 2005 - Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) today announced that its M- and T-series routing platforms have been selected for the core of the China Next Generation Internet (CNGI) project. The CNGI project is a Chinese government-funded initiative to promote Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) throughout China, and is expected to become the largest IPv6 network in the world. Juniper Networks platforms were selected for their proven, industry-leading IPv6 capabilities, and will be deployed in CNGI’s participating networks, including the China Education and Research Network (CERNET2), China Mobile, China Netcom, China Railcom, China Telecom and China Unicom.

The CNGI project was launched in 2003 by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and its charter is to create a next-generation national IPv6 backbone covering 20 cities and 39 massive network points of presence (GigaPOPs) to provide pervasive advanced IP services. IPv6 is the next generation Internet Protocol, and improves on the current version by greatly multiplying the number of IP addresses to accommodate the growing number of networked devices, users and applications with built-in security mechanisms." Link