China :: Business :: Deals

Our post last week about a European soccer star signing with Chinese domestic league team Shanghai Shenhua included questions about why China, with a passion for the game, cannot produce world class players or teams, domestically or internationally. Today I found the Dec. 17 article The Economist posted. Now I feel like I have some answers. Why China fails at football Little red card The telling reasons why, at least in football, China is unlikely to rule the world in the near future Dec 17th 2011 | from the print edition The Buddha tells the people he can fulfil only one of their wishes. Someone asks: Could you lower the price of property in China so that people can afford it? Seeing the Buddha frown in silence, the person makes another wish: Could you make the Chinese football team qualify for a World Cup? After a long sigh, the Buddha says: Lets talk about property prices. THE pass back to the goalkeeper seemed routine for Qingdao Hailifeng FC in its match against Sichuan FC in...

Techweb, 12/22/11 Account information for more than 6 mln registered users of online community Chinese Software Developer Network (CSDN,net) has reportedly been leaked online. Industry sources today added that account information has also been leaked for 8 mln and 20 mln users, respectively, of the 7k7k and 178.com gaming websites. CSDN has confirmed the news, saying the leaked information is from a 2009 backup of the site's database, although the exact cause for the leak has yet to be determined. Online sources say that the leaks were deliberate and users of Chinese SNS sites Renren and Kaixin001, the Tianya online community and matchmaking sites Jiayuan.com and Baihe.com will be the next targets.

Marbridge Consulting, 12/20/11 China's three main telecom operators have announced their subscriber totals for November 2011. November saw the net addition of 12.13 mln new mobile subscribers. China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) added 5.43 mln new mobile subscribers, pushing the operator's total mobile user base to 644.32 mln, of which a total of 48.01 mln subscribers used China Mobile's TD-SCDMA terminals during the month. China Mobile added 2.68 mln new TD-SCDMA subscribers in November. China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) added 3.60 mln new mobile subscribers, bringing its total to 195.97 mln. Of the new mobile subs added, 0.21 mln were GSM subscribers, bringing China Unicom's total GSM user base to 159.44 mln, and 3.38 mln were WCDMA subscribers, pushing the company's total WCDMA user base to 36.53 mln subscribers. China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) added 3.10 mln CDMA subs, taking its total to 123.39 mln, of which 33.35 mln were CDMA2000 EV-DO subsc...

Rumor: Telecom Operators Lose IPTV Revenue Share to CNTV Itxinwen.com, 12/16/11 According to a source within the telecom operator, Shenzhen Telecom can receive a 50-60% revenue share in an IPTV joint venture with Shanghai Media Group IPTV subsidiary Shanghai BesTV, but receive only approximately 30% of revenues in an IPTV partnership with CCTV's national online TV station CNTV and local broadcasting authorities. According to another industry source, CNTV takes the lion's share in partnerships with telecom operators, who receive approximately 10% of revenues. Shandong Telecom recently partnered with CNTV and Shandong Radio & TV Station to launch IPTV services, while Beijing Unicom and Beijing TV Station did the same earlier this year. Shanxi Radio and Television partnered with CNTV and Shandong Unicom to launch IPTV services in November 2011. In August 2011, CNTV filed lawsuits against Guangdong Unicom and Jiangsu Unicom in Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court and Nanji...

Coship to Transfer 3G Technology to Sowill Dfdaily.com, 12/15/11 In a public filing yesterday, Chinese developer and manufacturer of satellite receivers and cable and terrestrial set-top boxes (STBs) Coship Electronics (002052.SZ) said that it planned to sign a technology transfer agreement with the Sowill Group under which it will transfer key technologies in its TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, and tablet technology solutions, as well as intelligent remote control solutions and Bluetooth module technology solutions, to Sowill for RMB 35 mln. Coship said it would cease its investments in 3G mobile handsets following the transfer. Though Coship is a manufacturer of television set-top boxes (STBs), Coship chairman Yuan Ming had been interested in the mobile handset industry, and began preparing the company for an entry into the industry in 2009. In 2010, Coship began luring employees away from Shenzhen-based handset maker Yulong Computer Telecommunication, a subsidiary of China Wireless Technologies (2...

China Mobile Unveils Mobile Base Strategy Sohu IT, 12/14/11 At its 2011 Global Developers Conference in Guangzhou on the evening of December 13, China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) unveiled its "nine service bases" strategy, as well as some of its mobile internet development strategies. China Mobile categorizes the bases as "Content" bases (covering music, video, reading, games, and animation), "Function" bases (covering e-commerce, M2M, and LBS), and "General" bases (covering the operator's internet base). Chen Jianji, general manager of the operator's mobile music base in Sichuan, said that the base had partnered with more than 500 content providers to offer works from 150,000 artists to more than 420 mln users who had tried the service, 60 mln of whom were "VIP subscribers." Wang Bin, general manager of the operator's mobile video service in Shanghai, said that the base and its partners had built an operations team of more ...