How a 141-year-old telco is reinventing itself

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Hello readers,

Just like how my grandma struggles to use emojis, old and huge companies tend to find it difficult to go digital. But that doesn’t mean they can’t try.

And one company that hasn’t stopped trying is telecom giant Singtel. It has pretty much done it all, from running an ecommerce platform, an e-magazine, a messaging service, and a lifestyle site to investing in a gaming startup.

Check out the full article or scroll down for a quick summary.

Also, we’ve added some clarifications to our recent story on Tokopedia’s Dhanapala. The peer-to-peer lending platform got a license from Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority in August 2019, before the breach happened in May 2020.

But first, your quick bytes for today:

1️⃣ ByteDance CEO reconsiders US sale of TikTok

Given China’s new tech exports rule, the company’s regulatory team and deal negotiators are said to be busy crafting a deal that can win approval from both governments, an acquirer, and venture investors. Nevertheless, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming could be reconsidering his options of selling the US operations of short-video app TikTok.

2️⃣ Facebook to block news from Australian sites

The US tech titan is not happy that a potential new law in the country will require Facebook to pay for news sourced from local providers.

3️⃣ Kuaishou’s plan to ride the livestreaming ecommerce boom

The Chinese short-video app announced plans to incubate 100,000 businesses, groom 10,000 livestreamers, and host over 1 million ecommerce livestreaming sessions.

Livestreaming ecommerce was estimated to be worth US$61.2 billion in the Middle Kingdom last year. If Southeast Asia follows China’s trajectory, this industry could be huge. But the question is, which player will capture the most market share?

This 141-year-old telecom grandpa is going digital

More layoffs (Thanks, Covid-19!)

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