Rumor: Could Huawei Buy Marconi?

From Light Reading: Could Huawei Buy Marconi?

"Could Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. be lining up a takeover bid for troubled U.K. firm Marconi Corp. plc in the aftermath of BT Group plc's 21CN contract award news?" (see BT Choses Huawei as one of its Major Suppliers of New Equipment)

"Should Huawei make a move on Marconi now, it would not only get the vendor at a knocked-down price, but also buy itself into a number of European carrier accounts, a key goal in its international expansion strategy. Marconi counts the likes of Belgacom, Cable & Wireless plc, Deutsche Telekom AG, Telecom Italia SpA, and Telefónica SA, as well as smaller European operators, among its customers. And the two companies know each other already, having forged a business and product development partnership in January this year." (see Marconi to reveal strategic tie-up with Huawei in China)

Read more

TOM Online Announces Cisco, Macromedia Acquire Strategic Stakes in Indiagames

From TMCnet: TOM Online Announces Cisco, Macromedia Acquire Strategic Stakes in Indiagames

"TOM Online Inc. (Nasdaq: TOMO), China's leading wireless Internet company, announced today that Cisco Systems Inc. and Macromedia Inc. will acquire strategic share interests in Indiagames Ltd., a leading global publisher of mobile games majority owned by TOM Online. This move enhances the India-based mobile games publisher's position for global growth."

Read more

BT Choses Huawei as one of its Major Suppliers of New Equipment

From The Independent: BT body blow signals an end to Marconi's independence

"BT has chosen the Chinese company Huawei as one of its major suppliers of new equipment, along with Fujitsu. The other winners were the French firm Alcatel, Cisco Systems and Lucent of the US, Ericsson, Siemens and Ciena.
These eight companies will now supply BT with the equipment it needs to transform the UK's main telecoms network into a system carrying voice calls and data using internet technology instead of the traditional local exchange-based switching systems.
Dubbed by BT the "21st Century Network" the project will involve the telecoms group spending £10bn over the next five years merging six network technologies into one so that a variety of services can be delivered more quickly and cheaply for consumers."

Read more

Approval of Google's Plans to Expand Mainland China Operations

From interfax.cn: Approval of Google's plans to expand Mainland China operations will intensify local competition

"Chinese authorities have green-lighted Google's plans to open the company's first office in Mainland China, which will allow the world's largest search engine to further localize its operations, but will also significantly intensify competition in China's online search market, analysts said."

"Although Google has operated a Chinese language search engine since September of 2000, the company had previously been forced to run its China business out of an office in Hong Kong, which hindered its ability to market advertising services via its search engine to Mainland Chinese companies. Google's businesses in China have mainly been limited to self-help advertising services such as Google AdWords and Google AdSense.
Although Google has yet to disclose where the company will set up its new Mainland China office, local newspaper 21st Century Business Herald reported the search engine would set up shop in Shanghai. In addition, the paper reported that Google had hired Victor Koo, the former COO of NASDAQ-listed Sohu, to head up the company's Mainland operations."

Read more

SOHU.com Reports First Quarter 2005

From ChinaTechNews: Sohu Revenue Slips

"Net income for the first quarter of 2005 was US$5.71 million or US$0.15 per fully diluted share. This compares to net income of US$6.50 million or US$0.17 per fully diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2004 and US$10.93 million or US$0.27 per fully diluted share for the first quarter of 2004."

"Sohu's advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2005 totaled US$14.86 million, a 35% year-on-year improvement and 6% decline quarter-on-quarter. Advertising revenue, consisting of US$12.13 million in brand advertising and US$2.73 million in sponsored search, accounted for 63% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2005. Advertising gross margin was 76%, compared to 80% in Q4 2004 and 75% in Q1 2004."

Read more

China’s 3G Standard TD-SCDMA Blooms

From Red Herring: China’s 3G Standard Blooms

"Beijing’s efforts to promote China’s homegrown third-generation (3G) wireless standard (TD-SCDMA - time division-synchronous code division multiple access) look increasingly likely to bear fruit, participants and industry analysts said at the conclusion of the International TD-SCDMA Summit Wednesday in Beijing."

"A total of 20 different TD-SCDMA handsets from 14 vendors have already been built. Those vendors include domestic Chinese brands Ningbo Bird, Hisense, Putian, and Yinghuada; Taiwan-based DBTel; and Korean heavyweight Samsung. "

"Most industry watchers speculate that barring any disasters with the ongoing trials, China’s State Council will issue 3G licenses, including at least one specifically for TD-SCDMA, no later than early 2006."

Read more

Henry Blodget Doesn't Like Chinese Internet Stocks

From Slate.com: Go Work in China, Immediately. But don't buy any stocks from there.
By Henry Blodget

"If one were able to invest in the growth of the Internet in China, instead of in individual companies, this would be a much safer bet. China has, by and large, missed out on the worldwide development of the television, radio, film, and newspaper industries, so the Internet should rapidly garner an even larger share of media and communications usage and spending in China than in the West. This said, the China Internet leaders do not appear to be as dominant as, say, Yahoo!, eBay, and Amazon were at the beginning of the industry's development in the U.S., and the Internet is a winner-take-most game. The "Yahoo! of China" and "Google of China," in fact, might end up being Yahoo! and Google, which would make Sina, et al., the equivalents of Lycos and Excite. So, unless you are willing to construct a diversified basket of stocks that tracks the growth of the Internet medium in China, as opposed to particular companies, you should just hang on to your wad. "

Read more


China Net Investor: Henry Blodget, the disgraced bubble-era analyst, is now a columnist for the online magazine Slate. He has written recently about business and investment in China: Go East, Young Man Where's My $58 Million, Madame Wu? Caged Hedgehogs, Car Smugglers, and Guanxi The Real "Great Leap Forward" What To Do in Shanghai … The Empty Village How To Solve China's Piracy Problem The Best China Investment Strategy

Hua Yuan Science & Technology Association Announces Silicon Valley's Largest China-focused Conference

From Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association (Press Release): 'China Goes Mainstream,' Hua Yuan Science & Technology Association Announces Silicon Valley's Largest China-focused Conference YOU ARE INVITED

" Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association (HYSTA), the leading association for Chinese professionals in Silicon Valley, announced today that its 2005 Annual Conference titled "Going Mainstream - China in 2005 and Beyond" will be held at Santa Clara Convention Center on Saturday, May 7, 2005. "

"The HYSTA conference this year brings together CEOs of China's technology companies and Silicon Valley's leading entrepreneurs, venture capitals and executives for an exciting day of discussion about business and investment strategy in China, and China's impact on the world."

Read more

Chinese Online Gaming Sector: Game Pipelines

From Pacific Epoch: Game Pipelines

"While Netease and Shanda are dominating the online gaming industry today, without new hits these companies will be has-beens tomorrrow. A strong development pipeline is critical to the staying power of gaming companies. While The9's 2005 pipeline may be impressive and some have said Kingsoft has the strongest offering of games this year, I would opine that Shanghai based 9you has a gaming repertoire that stands up to any of the heavy hitters in terms of quantity and diversity. "

Read more

Netease Grows On Gaming Success

From ChinaTechNews: Netease Grows On Gaming Success

"Netease (NTES) has reported total revenues of US$39.6 million for the first quarter of 2005, representing a 17.9% increase over US$33.6 million for the preceding quarter, and a 57.6% increase over US$25.1 million for the corresponding period a year ago.

Revenues from online game services for the quarter showed continued strong growth, increasing by 25.9% quarter-over-quarter and 135.3% year-over-year to US$31.7 million driven by the success of Fantasy Westward Journey, which became one of China's most popular MMORPGs. Peak and average concurrent user numbers for the game reached 588,000 and 244,000, respectively, for the month of March 2005."

Read more

China Economic Growth Seen Slowing

From Boston Globe: China Economic Growth Seen Slowing

"The World Bank said Chinese economic growth should slow to 8.3 percent this year and to 7.5 percent in 2006, rates that "largely embody the soft-landing view.
The economy grew 9.5 percent in 2004, the strongest pace since 1996, Chinese data showed."

Read more

India, China poised to feast on US IT complacency

From The Register: India, China poised to feast on US IT complacency

"The technology lead prized by the US, Europe and Japan could come back to haunt the regions as nations such as India and China progress without the shackles of old fashioned hardware and software, according to Sun Microsystems President Jonathan Schwartz.
"My view is that (India and China) don't have to deal with all the legacy systems that Western Europe, the US and Japan do," Schwartz said in an interview with The Register. "There are no mainframes. Microsoft Exchange doesn't have the same presence in the IT landscape. Windows isn't nearly no entrenched."

"As a result, India and China could well dominate something Schwartz sees as the next-wave of computing, which is a scenario that takes millions of networked devices, high bandwidth and web services for granted. While the US is busy paying cheap coders to fix PeopleSoft applications, savvy folks in India could be plowing ahead on a fresh infrastructure."

"Will the next Google or Napster or Salesforce.com come out of Beijing while US staffers are busy installing the latest Windows Service Pack? Probably not in the near future. But we'll chat again in ten years."

Read more

China's Largest Independent Mobile Phone Designer Plans IPO

From The Standard: Techfaith seeks US$148m

"China Techfaith Wireless Communication Technology, the mainland's largest independent mobile phone designer, will price a US$148 million initial public offering around May 6, sources close to the deal said Tuesday.
Beijing-based Techfaith was founded in July 2002 by former Motorola employees. Lenovo and NEC each contributed more than 10 percent of its revenue last year, according to a preliminary prospectus."

"Besides Techfaith, Chinese software maker Watchdata Technologies, also plans to raise up to US$80 million by selling four million ADS at US$18-US$20 each. Listings of Techfaith and Watchdata will be tailed by other Chinese firms like Baidu, Alibaba, Kingsoft and Focus Media."

Read more

Fantasies Inspire Chinese Gamers

From BBC News: Fantasies inspire Chinese gamers

"Last year China had almost 100 million internet users; one-fifth of them played online games.
In 2004, the online gaming industry was worth $600m. That may not sound like that much, but it represents growth of 60% over the year before.

A 31 year-old who set up an online gaming company (Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd) just six years ago has been named China's second richest man, with an estimated fortune of more than $1bn.

Beijing wants to capture the market, and is setting up a college of internet gaming to train developers to come up with healthy games. "

Read more

UTStarcom CEO Wu Ying On IPTV

From Pacific Epoch: UTStarcom CEO Wu Ying On IPTV

"IPTV will become one of the most important growth points for UTStarcom (Nasdaq: UTSI) in 2005, UTStarcom president Wu Ying told China Business News on April 21. According to Wu, revenues from IPTV will account for 15 to 20 percent of UTStarcom's total revenues in 2005. Overseas revenues accounted for 24 percent of UTStarcom's total revenues in 2004 and will make up about 50 percent of revenues in 2005. Wu said that UTStarcom has signed a contract with Yahoo Broadband in Japan to provide IPTV services to five million users. Meanwhile, UTStarcom will install IPTV equipment for 100,000 users in Florida. However, Wu said that hurdles to the development of the IPTV industry in China are IPTV licenses, content, technology, infrastructure and a lack of capital."

China's Burgeoning Internet Industry - Update from Mary Meeker

From BusinessWeek: Update from Mary Meeker

"These days, Meeker is spending a lot of her time studying China's burgeoning Internet industry. "If you look at the China Internet market, you have five companies that have $1 billion market caps," she told me. "There was a time when Yahoo, Excite, Infoseek, and Lycos all had $1 billion market caps. Two years from now, there won't be five companies with $1 billion market caps. Someone will break away. The companies are in a real battle right now." I asked which ones she's handicapping, but she demurred. Once bitten, twice shy."

Read more

China Mobile: You're Still the One

From ChinaTechNews: China Mobile: You're Still the One

"The value of China Mobile (and to a lesser extent, China Unicom) lies not so much in its mobile phone subscribers, but in its value as one of the only operator in China's mobile information super-highway.

Super-highway? It sounds so early 90s, when the big buzzword was "information super-highway", but it is still an appropriate metaphor for China Mobile. If you are a wireless content provider like Linktone (LTON) or one of dozens of similar companies, you have to deal with China Mobile. If you want to advertise to Chinese mobile phone users, you have to deal with China Mobile. China Mobile is the operator of the only toll-both to the highway."

"(...) So fear not as you look at China Mobile's subscriber numbers. At 214 million subscribers, they are still impressive, and are not even the end story. As it stands today, China Mobile is holding all the wireless cards."

Read more

The Emergence of Chinese Competitors will Force Consolidation in Telcos Networks Sector

From TheAustralian: Telco shake-up forecast

"The emergence of cut-price Chinese competitors will force consolidation in the telecommunications networks sector in the next three years, according to new Alcatel chief operating officer Mike Quigley."I would be very surprised if we looked three years out and the industry structure was the same as it is today," Mr Quigley told The Australian.

"In terms of the (equipment) vendors community, there are simply too many vendors - I think that is recognised by most analysts and most of us in the industry. We have got all of the traditional existing vendors, plus we have start-ups, there are still companies starting up, and we have the emergence of new players, particularly from China."

(...) in the past few years two large Chinese vendors have emerged -- Huawei Technologies and ZTE. After building their business on the booming Chinese market, and then smaller Asian and developing countries, they are determined to break into developed markets."

Read more

The Future of Mobile Phones in China

From AsiaTimes: The future of mobile phones in China

"China's mobile phone industry, which grew by more than a quarter in both production and sales in 2004, is expected to keep growing strongly in 2005, thanks to rapid expansion of domestic demand and a more favorable macroeconomic environment. But the current state of the industry features both opportunities and challenges."

Article content overview:
- The overall environment
- Higher penetration expected
- Handset manufacturing base
- Domestic-foreign competition
- Future challenges

Read more

eBay Eachnet Reduces Transaction Fees

From ChinaTechNews: eBay Eachnet Plans Transaction Fee Reductions

"With rising competition in the Chinese online auction sector, eBay Eachnet has announced that it will make a large adjustment to its charging policy, starting May 1.
The transaction procedure fee for all goods will be reduced by 20-60%. At the same time, the online product display fee will be cancelled and the monthly store rent decreased from RMB50 to RMB35."

"(...) these price reductions will likely place more pressure on its two major competitors, Taobao.com and 1pai.com, who are running free services."

Read more

Can China Have Capitalism Without Democracy?

From Slate: China's Biggest Gamble: Can it have capitalism without democracy? A prediction.
By Henry Blodget

"The key test of China's version of capitalism, of course, will be during the bust that inevitably will follow the current boom (some day). If elections were held today, many in China suggest, the current leaders would win the popular vote. On the whole, thanks to the economy, people feel they have done a good job. During the bust, the pressure for change will increase, with or without the press. "

"If China can survive that inevitable economic crisis without a political uprising, we will probably be able to conclude that a dynamic free-market economy need not, in fact, go hand in hand with democracy."

Read more

China Net Investor: Henry Blodget, the disgraced bubble-era analyst, is now a columnist for the online magazine Slate. He has written recently about business and investment in China: Go East, Young Man Where's My $58 Million, Madame Wu? Caged Hedgehogs, Car Smugglers, and Guanxi The Real "Great Leap Forward" What To Do in Shanghai … The Empty Village How To Solve China's Piracy Problem The Best China Investment Strategy

China's Mobile Phone Market Heating up

From BusinessWeek: China's mobile phone market heating up

"China's homegrown mobile phone handset manufacturers will continue to see operating margins squeezed over the rest of this year as there is no sign that the intense competition will abate soon. The market will get chillier as new competitors crowd in following the recent introduction of a standardized licensing policy for the industry, said Ann Liang, chief analyst for mobile terminals research in Asia-Pacific at market researchers Gartner Inc."

"In 2004, Chinese consumers bought around 68 million handsets, according to Gartner's data. Nokia was the leading vendor with around 20 percent market share, followed by Motorola Inc. with 12 percent.
Ningbo Bird Co. and TCL Corp., the fourth and fifth largest vendors with 8.6 percent and 7.2 percent market shares, respectively, were the two leading domestic vendors."

Read more

China Lenovo loses No.1 ranking in Asia to H-P

From MarketWatch: China Lenovo loses No.1 ranking in Asia to H-P

"China's biggest personal computer company, Lenovo Group Ltd., lost its top spot as the leading PC vendor in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan in the first quarter of 2005 to Hewlett-Packard Co., according to market research firm IDC Corp."

"Hewlett-Packard moved into top spot from second position as it pushed ahead in several key markets in the region, posting 29% growth in the number of units sold. It had an 11.7% market share, up from 10.2% in the previous quarter.
Lenovo's fall was primarily due to seasonal sluggishness during the Lunar New Year period, as well as high levels of inventories left over from the previous quarter, IDC said.
The company's unit sales rose 20% on year during the first quarter and it remained the market leader in China. Its regional market share, however, slipped to 11%, from 13.5% in the fourth quarter of last year, the research firm said."

Read more

China Closing the Tech Gap?

From CNET: China closing the tech gap?

"China is rapidly becoming a major force in developing new technology, posing a significant economic threat to the United States.
Alternately, the authoritarian country faces key hurdles in its quest to transform into an innovator, including its lack of free speech."

"Both arguments were made here on Thursday at a meeting of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a 12-member panel set up in 2000 to advise the U.S. Congress."

Read more

Shanda, Turbine Deal to Bring Dungeons & Dragons Online to China

From PRNewswire: Shanda, Turbine to Bring Dungeons & Dragons Online to China (Press Release)

"Shanda InteractiveEntertainment Limited (Nasdaq: SNDA), the largest operator of online games inChina, announced today that it will be signing a deal with Turbine, Inc., aleading publisher of online subscription entertainment, to bring Dungeons &Dragons(R) Online to China. Under the agreement, Shanda will hold theexclusive rights in China to operate this first and only 3D massivelymultiplayer online role playing game, or MMORPG based on the world-renownedHasbro and Wizards of the Coast Dungeons & Dragons(R) franchise. The game isexpected to launch in China in the second half of 2005. Financial terms ofthe agreement were not disclosed."

Read more

Chinese telephone companies expected to spend $24 billion to upgrade mobile networks to 3G

From Keralanext: China to go on $24 bln 3G spending spree

"Chinese telephone companies are officially expected to spend an estimated $24 billion to upgrade their mobile networks for data-rich applications in what could become a bonanza for foreign and domestic equipment makers. "

"The estimated 200 billion in spending dwarfs most of the numbers to emerge so far, including a forecast by China's top mobile carrier, China Mobile of $7.25 billion in spending in the first two to three years of 3G roll-out."

"China has spent billions of dollars on its current networks, providing a rare bright spot at the height of the recent telecoms bust for companies like Motorola Inc. , Nortel Networks , Ericsson , Nokia and Lucent Technologies Inc. . But in the upcoming round of 3G spending, the foreign giants will also face competition from a field of hungry domestic suppliers led by Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp., the nation's top two players."

Read more

Shanda to Launch TV Platform Home Entertainment Strategy Soon

From CHINAdaily: Shanda sets sights on TV platform

"The biggest Chinese online games operator Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd will launch its home entertainment strategy soon, as the company tries hard to expand its business to other platforms."

"While there are only about 20 million online games players in China, there are 340 million households with a television, so penetration into the TV platform has become the focus of Shanda's home entertainment strategy.
The company has decided to move some of its entertainment branches - including games, music and literature - from the computer platform to the TV platform through a set-top box.
The set-top box is expected to use Intel's processors, Microsoft's operating system and mother boards from the Taiwanese firm Gigabyte. The boxes may be produced by the Taiwanese electronics maker Inventec."

Read more

EBay Looks to China for Growth

From BusinessWeek: EBay Looks to China for Growth

"EBay added more new users in China than from any other country, and it‘s now the No. 1 e-commerce company there. Whitman said eBay would debut PayPal in China soon, and it is already promoting an escrow payment service similar to one in South Korea." Read more

China Net Investor: eBay is planning to spend upward of $100 million in China this year to capture the high ground against local competitor TaoBao (Alibaba).

Read more:
Ebay Aims to Conquer China
Putting a value on China's Alibaba
Report On China's B2B, B2C and C2C Giant Alibaba

Why China is growing so fast

From Asia Times: Why China is growing so fast

"For years, investors and economists have been scratching their heads over China's growth rate. (...) China's $1.3 trillion economy is the second largest in Asia and some say it was largely responsible for keeping the world from sliding into recession in 2001.
(...) figures released by China's National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday revealed that the country grew an amazing 9.5% from a year earlier to 3.14 trillion yuan ($379 billion) in the first quarter as exports and investment surged. A tremendous achievement indeed. But the question uppermost in the minds of many remains: how has China achieved this miracle?"

Read more

TurboLinux Ranks #1 In China Linux Market

From LinuxElectrons: TurboLinux Ranks #1 In China Linux Market For Fourth Consecutive Year

"Turbolinux once again dominates the China Linux market, according to a report recently released by leading international market research firm IDC, entitled China Linux 2005-2009 Forecast and Analysis. The comprehensive survey, which details market dynamics and development trends for the Linux operating system in China, revealed that Turbolinux experienced significant revenue increases in 2004, as well as further growth in market share in 2003; thus, substantiating Turbolinux's role as the market leader in China for four successive years."

Read more

China's GDP grows 9.5% in 1st quarter

From Bloomberg: China's Economy Grows 9.5 Percent, More Than Expected

"China's economy, which accounted for a 10th of global growth last year, expanded more than expected in the first quarter as exports and investment surged.
Gross domestic product rose 9.5 percent from a year earlier to 3.14 trillion yuan ($379 billion), matching the fourth- quarter's gain, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement released in Beijing. That exceeded the median 9 percent gain forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 11 economists. "

Read more

Japan Telecom Expands With UTStarcom

From LightReading: Japan Telecom Expands With UTStarcom

"ALAMEDA, Calif. -- UTStarcom, Inc. (UTSIE), a global leader in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions and international service and support, today announced an expansion contract with Japan Telecom Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of SOFTBANK Corp., for deployment of several million lines of UTStarcom's highly scalable iAN-8000 Multi-Service Access Node (MSAN) solution."

Read more

"Wake up and Face the Flat Earth" - Thomas L. Friedman, Author of the Book "The World is Flat"

From YaleGlobalonline: 'Wake Up and Face the Flat Earth' – Thomas L. Friedman

In an interview, columnist and author Thomas L. Friedman says globalization has outpaced its critics (Discussing his recent book, "The World Is Flat")

"I really dove into some key companies (Wal-Mart, UPS) that are now globalizing and are really the source for understanding globalization. (...) So as you take an item off the shelf in New Haven, Connecticut, another of that item will immediately be made of that item in Xianjin, China. So there's perfect knowledge and transparency throughout that supply chain."

"In "Flat World," I take that theory one step further into what I call the "Dell Theory" – you know, Dell Computers. The Dell Theory says that no two countries that are part of the same global supply chain will ever fight a war as long as they're each still part of that supply chain. Now, the big test case is China and Taiwan. Both are suppliers of the main parts of computers. If they go to war, don't try to order a computer this month because you'll have a real problem."

Read more

Video Clip:
The World Is Flat
In an interview, columnist and author Thomas L. Friedman says globalization has outpaced its critics.

China's Consumer Electronics Maker TCL Reports Drop in Profit

From Forbes.com: China's TCL Corp. Reports Drop in Profit

"TCL Corp., one of China's largest consumer electronics makers, on Tuesday reported a 57 percent drop in 2004 net profit as earnings were dragged down by losses from its joint ventures with French partners (Thomson SA.; Alcatel SA).
TCL's net profit for 2004 fell to 245.2 million yuan (US$29.7 million; euro22.9 million) from 570.6 million yuan (US$69 million; euro53 million) in 2003, the company said. TCL, which is based in Huizhou in southern China's Guangdong province, recorded 40.3 billion yuan (US$4.9 billion; euro3.8 billion) in core revenues last year, 42 percent higher than in 2003. But an 80 percent surge in its operating and management expenses cut into its earnings, the company said. It said it expects to record a loss in the first quarter of 2005."

Read more

UTStarcom Announces Infrastructure Contracts With China Netcom and China Telecom

From UTStarcom Press Release: UTStarcom Announces Approximately $20 Million in IP-Based PAS Expansion Contracts With China Netcom

UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI), a global leader in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions and services, today announced that it has signed infrastructure contracts valued at approximately $20 million with China Netcom Group (CNC) to expand the operator's existing IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) (iPAS(TM)) networks in the Henan and Liaoning provinces, as well as in metropolitan Beijing and Tianjin.


From UTStarcom Press Release: UTStarcom Signs Approximately $50 Million in Contracts With China Telecom for Expansion of IP-Based PAS Networks

UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI), ... , today announced that it has signed infrastructure contracts valued at approximately $50 million with China Telecom Corporation (CTC). These contracts will expand the operator's existing IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) (iPAS(TM)) networks in the Shanxi, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces in eastern China, as well as in metropolitan Shanghai.

Huawei to Set Up Regional HQ in Hungary

From Forbes.com: Chinese IT Company to Set Up Hungary HQ

"China's Huawei Technologies announced plans to set up its regional commercial headquarters in Budapest, a business daily reported Monday. Huawei, the largest Chinese telecommunication equipment maker, also plans to launch production in Hungary in the midterm, the Vilaggazdasag newspaper reported. Huawei employs 24,000 people worldwide."

Read more

An alliance between China and India could change the global IT landscape

From InformationWeek: An alliance between China and India could change the global IT landscape

"Talks between the prime ministers of China and India last week to forge closer ties between the two countries could hasten the region's emergence as an IT powerhouse and center of innovation. Such ties also could yield benefits for companies looking to tap offshore workers--and spawn tougher rivals for U.S. IT vendors."

"From the West's viewpoint, a possible downside to pairing the Chinese dragon and the Indian tiger is the potential for them to set IT standards and agendas that force the rest of the world to follow their lead."

"A Sino-Indian alliance also could spawn a non-Western PC vendor to challenge the dominance of Hewlett-Packard and Dell. The obvious candidate for that is China's Lenovo Group Ltd., which is acquiring IBM's PC and laptop business for $1.25 billion, including offices in India housing IBM's PC business."

Read more

China's e-commerce industry expected to grow at over 50 pct every year

From English.eastday: China's e-commerce industry expected to grow at over 50 pct every year

"China's e-commerce, in a crucial stage of development, is to grow at over 50 percent every year, said Song Ling, chairman of China Electronic Commerce Association."E-commerce has become an important part of people's life and also a strong driver of China's market economy," said Song at the eighth China International E-commerce Conference held here Sunday."

Read more

Earnings ahead for China Nets - NetEase, Sina, Sohu

From MarketWatch: Earnings ahead for China Nets

"NetEase's (NTES) Fantasy Westward Journey game has been leaping up the charts, helping to give shares a solid run. According to Pacific Epoch numbers, it cruised past Shanda's World of Legend and Optisp's Legend of Mir III to be the most popular massive multi-player online role playing game in China in March. ... NetEase will report first quarter earnings on April 26."

"China's No.2 portal Sohu (SOHU) will report its first-quarter results on April 27. Last week it announced plans to pay $9.3 million in cash for Go2Map, an online mapping service that covers 14 of China's biggest cities. While Go2Map does not yet provide the satellite photo granularity of Google Maps, it shows Sohu is thinking along the same lines as U.S. giants Google and Yahoo.
While most of the market has been waiting for search engine Baidu's long touted IPO, Sohu has been busy working on its own search service, Sogou. Sohu is apparently using its traditional online advertising sales channels to push listings on Sogou, so search related ad revenue might surprise a few of Sohu's detractors, as of which there are many, when the company reports results."

" ... China's biggest portal Sina (SINA) will announce first quarter results on May 5, while most of China is still on holiday for the May Day week. As Sina stock continues to drift, management at the Chinese portal likely breathed a collective sigh of relief when Shanda CEO Chen Tianqiao told press he will not seek a board seat, despite controlling a 19.5% stake in Sina."

Read more

Asia's Phone Companies with Attractive Valuations

From International Herald Tribune: Around Asia's markets: Rebound is forecast for phone companies

"Telephone companies like Indosat have become Asia's cheapest stocks relative to