Telecom Italia Excludes Huawei From 5G Equipment Tenders 

Embattled Chinese tech giant Huawei has encountered another issue in its global 5G rollout, with Italian digital partner Telecom Italia (TIM) announcing on Thursday the exclusion of Huawei from 5G core equipment tenders both in Italy and Brazil.

This came after the U.K., France and Germany had already announced they were reducing collaboration with Huawei, following the imposition of similar restrictions by the United States.

Telecom Italia denied the exclusion decision was political and said it was made by industry-based choices in collaboration with their partners, Italian new press Agenzia Giornalistica Italia reported.

Telecom Italia is one of the most important players in the Brazilian market, where Huawei's equipment has formed a significant part of the communications infrastructure over the last 22 years. Recently Huawei successfully conducted 5G tests with all of Brazil's major carriers including Telefonica Brasil, TIM Participacoes, America Movil's Claro and Oi. 

The exclusion could bring major changes for TIM in Brazil, while in the Italian market, Huawei has played no part in the building of TIM's existing core network.

Telecom Italia's list of invited suppliers for 5G core equipment comprises Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Mavenir and Affirmed Networks, a company recently acquired by Microsoft, Reuters reported.

A Huawei representative in Italy stated that they believe the security and development of digital Italy should be based on facts rather than "baseless allegations" and stressed Huawei's commitment to support Italian digital development, CCTV.com reported. 

Alibaba Aims For A Billion Customers

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang on Friday rolled out the company's five-year plan, with the e-commerce behemoth setting a goal of hitting the one billion customer total and bringing in RMB10 trillion (US$1.43 trillion) in yearly sales on Alibaba's platforms.

The plan, revealed to shareholders in the company's 2020 Fiscal Report said the company had achieved US$1 trillion in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV)  across Alibaba's digital economy in fiscal year 2020. That represented one-sixth of total retail sales in China. 

"We hope to create 100 million job opportunities and support 10 million medium- and small-scaled enterprises to make profits by the year 2036." Danial said in the statement.

Alibaba is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, where its stock closed yesterday at US$261.58, up 1.51% over the previous day's close.

APT Broadband Satellite Takes Flight

Apstar-6D, the first in a planned system of up to four geostationary broadband communications satellites, launched successfully on Thursday aboard a Long March 3B rocket.

The commercial launch follows those of China's Shiyan-6 (02) and Gaofen "multi-mode" Earth observation satellites earlier this month.

The Telecommunication and Satellite Department of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the division tasked with conducting commercial Long March launches, confirmed the mission's success in a press release after the launch.

A high-throughput (HTS) satellite with a total capacity of 50 gigabits per second, Hong Kong-based APT Satellite's Apstar-6D will be the first on China's enhanced Dongfanghong-4 platform (DFH-4), which allows more room for communications payloads, according to the CASC. 

As the highest capacity satellite covering China, Apstar-6D, which features hybrid electric and chemical propulsion, has an expected service life of 15 years. It will be positioned at 134 degrees east longitude, the meridian occupied by Northeastern China's Heilongjiang province.

China Simplifies Foreign Business Registration As FDI declines

Foreign-invested enterprises now can more simply invest in China with easier access to to the business registration process in prefectural-level cities across China. 

Premier Li Keqaing confirmed the plan at Wednesday's State Council meeting, authoriziong hundreds of prefectural-level and above cities to open up their registration processes for foreign-invested enterprises. 

China has 293 prefectural-level cities in addition to seven prefectures and 30 autonomous prefectures. A prefecture is above a county and below a province in China's administrative structure.

The plan is part of the government's ongoing efforts to spur foreign investment, following the "One Window, One Form" policy that it started in June 2018. The policy simplifies filing processes with the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and the Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC) into one administrative step. 

MOFCOM statistics reveal that during the first five months of 2020, China's foreign direct investment (FDI) totaled RMB355.18 billion (US$50.68 billion), down 3.8 percent year-on-year. FDI inflows to high-tech industries rose by 2 percent, while investment from countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative rose 6 percent year-on-year.

"As much as 70% of foreign investment now flows into China's service industry, while a similar percentage was invested into manufacturing industries previously," said Zhang Yansheng, Secretary General and researcher of the Academic Committee of National Development and Reform Commission. 

Water Conservation Projects In Works As Part Of Flood-Control Plan

In an effort to improve flood control in its disaster-hit southern regions, the government announced it will go ahead with major water-management projects. 

China's State Council said that in addition to repairing various cites damaged by floods, it will implement 150 water conservancy projects that will help guard against floods and droughts. 

In March, Shi Chunxian, director of the Department of Planning and Programming of the Ministry of Water Resources, said RMB1 trillion would be invested into over 100 water conservancy projects in 2020 and the following three years.  

By the end of June, in regions of the upper and middle river basin of the Yangtze and its tributaries, flooding had displaced 744,000 people across 26 provinces, with 81 people missing or dead, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

The Three Gorges Dam, with its catchment area of about one million square kilometers in the Yangtze river basin, halted its regular maintenance and dam inspections due to restrictions on transportation and human migrations during the COVID-19 outbreak.  Yichang, a city below the dam, experienced extensive flooding toward the end of June.