Google, Facebook

Alphabet's Google and Mr Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook have announced their participation in a new subsea cable system for 2024 set to improve Internet connectivity across the Asia-Pacific region.

Dubbed Apricot, the infrastructure project will link Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Indonesia and help serve growing demand for broadband access and 5G wireless connectivity, Facebook said. In March, it announced two new transpacific subsea cables connecting Singapore to the United States West Coast, Bifrost and Echo, with Google participating in the latter.

BLOOMBERG

China Telecom

China Telecom, one of China's three largest telecom operators, has reported a profit surge in the first half of the year.

Profits attributable to equity holders of the company jumped 27.2 per cent year on year to 17.7 billion yuan (S$3.7 billion) in the first six months, the company said in an announcement filed with Hong Kong's stock exchange. The operating revenue amounted to 219.2 billion yuan during the period, up by 13.1 per cent from a year ago.

XINHUA

Hyatt Hotels

US hotel operator Hyatt Hotels Corp plans to buy resort company Apple Leisure Group from private equity owner KKR & Co and travel-leisure specialist KSL Capital Partners for US$2.7 billion (S$3.7 billion) including any debt.

Reporting this on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal said the deal was expected to be announced late yesterday. Hyatt Hotels, Apple Leisure, KKR and KSL did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. In 2017, KKR and KSL bought the Pennsylvania-based resort operator from Bain Capital for an undisclosed price.

REUTERS