China Mobile’s bid to enter US market rejected

May 13, 2019

The Federal Communications Commission rejected a bid made by China Mobile to offer telecommunications services in the US, citing concerns over national security, said the Financial Times.

The commission’s five members voted on Thursday to deny China Mobile’s application, which would have allowed the company to connect calls between the US and other countries.

Ajit Pai, chairman of the FCC, said last month he opposed the proposal and called on the other FCC members to vote against it. The FCC has said the company, China Mobile USA, is indirectly controlled by the Chinese government.

If granted a section 214 license, China Mobile would have received greater access to US telecommunications infrastructure such as phone lines and cellular networks.

Strict regulations leave China’s cancer-diagnosis AI startups short of capital

May 13, 2019

Chinese startups using artificial intelligence to help doctors diagnose cancer are fighting for survival due to tougher government regulations and tighter funding, said the Financial Times.

Last August, Chinese authorities introduced regulations requiring companies with AI products that make diagnoses from CT scans to apply for medical device licenses, which can take more than a year to obtain. Eight companies have applied but none have received a license to date.

Dozens of companies that use machine learning and image recognition for medical diagnoses in China raised $142 million in venture capital and private equity funding in 2017 and 2018, according to KPMG. But most of the companies have yet to generate profits.

The increase in time and money it now takes for companies to get their licenses will greatly impact their ability to get the products on the market, said Zhong Xin, chief executive of the medical software company 12 Sigma.

Netflix acquires rights to another show from Alibaba

May 13, 2019

Netflix Inc. is acquiring the rights to another show from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Youku video service, stepping up its efforts to serve Chinese-speaking viewers around the world, said Caixin.

The US streaming giant purchased the rights to a romantic comedy called “I Hear You.” Netflix will stream 24 episodes of the show in 190 countries and regions starting May 15, Alibaba said in a statement, which did not disclose financial terms.

Netflix has been investing in Chinese-language programming for distribution outside of China, where foreign streaming services are unable to operate without a local partner.

Alibaba previously sold Netflix the rights to the detective thriller “Day and Night,” which drew more than 4 billion views in China in its first four months on Youku.

Huawei lawyer’s past at Justice Department poses conflict of interest

May 13, 2019

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd lawyer James Cole’s prior work at the US Department of Justice created conflicts of interest that could disqualify him from defending the Chinese company in a case of alleged bank fraud and sanctions violations, US prosecutors said in a filing on Friday, reported Reuters.

Last week, prosecutors filed a motion to disqualify Cole, who served as deputy attorney general, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, between 2011 and 2015.

“There is a ‘substantial risk’ that Cole could use ‘confidential factual information’ obtained while serving as DAG to ‘materially advance’ Huawei’s current defense strategy,” the prosecutors said, according to a redacted copy of the US motion filed on Friday in US District Court in Brooklyn, New York.

Oracle lays off 900+ employees in China

May 10, 2019

US database and cloud computing company Oracle has laid off more than 900 people from its China operations, with a second round of cuts to come in July, local news outlets reported, citing an internal announcement Tuesday morning, said CNBC.

The dismissals will primarily come from Oracle’s local research and development base of 1,600 employees, the report said. The Beijing location will terminate 500 staff, a move seen as a step toward shutting down the center completely, according to the Global Times.

Oracle did not deny or confirm the reports, but told CNBC, “As our cloud business grows, we will continually balance our resources and restructure our development group to help ensure we deliver the best cloud services to our customers in China.”