Alibaba ‘not investing in Netflix’
China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba denied it plans to make a strategic investment in US-based video streaming provider Netflix, Reuters reported.

Alibaba was responding to unconfirmed reports about a possible tie-up between the two companies.

When Netflix reported earnings in July, it noted that the regulatory environment in China is tough and that the climate for its service “has become more challenging”, MarketWatch reported.

Court combines PLDT, Globe cases against watchdog
An appeals court in the Philippines approved a request from the country’s two dominant mobile operators – PLDT and Globe Telecom – to consolidate their legal challenge against the antitrust watchdog’s probe of their joint acquisition of San Miguel Corp’s telecoms assets in May.

The two operators filed petitions against the Philippines Competition Commission a month ago asking it to stop its review of the deal. The combined case will now be handled by the Court of Appeals.

Myanmar calls for SIM registration
Myanmar’s telecom regulator has told the country’s three mobile operators they will have to register all SIM cards by March of next year.

The move is seen as a security measure as well as a necessary step to prepare for the use of SIM cards to facilitate mobile payments as well as make replacement of lost or damaged SIM cards easier, Eleven Myanmar reported.

Customers will need to register using their national registration cards, driver licences or student IDs. Foreigners need to register with their passports.

Indosat partners to launch m-payments for retailers
Indonesia’s Indosat, in partnership with GoSwift International and local banking firm BNI, launched an m-payment acceptance system for merchants.

D-Pay allows merchants to use their mobile devices as multifunctional payment platforms and is designed for smaller firms that don’t have access to the relevant infrastructure or do not generate sufficient revenue to qualify for traditional point-of-sale (POS) services to accept card payments, Deal Street Asia reported.

The mobile-POS system, by making digital payments more secure and convenient, is expected to boost merchants’ sales.

GoSwift is the technology and business partner, while BNI is the acquiring bank.

Globe’s data traffic jumped 35% in H1
The Philippines’ second largest operator Globe Telecom reported its data traffic increased 35 per cent in the first half of the year, while mobile data revenues expanded 46 per cent to PHP17.8 billion ($378 million).

Data revenue accounted for 50 per cent of total revenue compared with 37 per cent a year ago.

Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu said said the sharp increase in data traffic is supported by declining mobile data rates, noting that its pricing is one of the most competitive across Asia Pacific. Globe charges just P48.74 ($1.05) per gigabyte.

The operator’s capex for the year is set at $750 million, the bulk of which will be used to boost data capacity for both its mobile and wireline networks.