Bloomberg SoftBank Corp made official its plans for a fifth-generation cellular networking service, something all Japanese carriers are racing towards, in Tokyo. SoftBank, the reliable revenue stream underpinning Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp, will start by selling four 5G smartphones from March 27. It’s getting out ahead of incoming rival Rakuten Inc, whose 4G network will begin service on April ...

Bloomberg Japan’s government will offer financial assistance to small businesses as part of a second round of emergency measures against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. Japan Finance Corp, wholly owned by the government, and other organisations will provide interest-free loans for small- and medium-size companies that are experiencing a sharp drop in revenue, he said. The government aims ...

Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co says coronavirus is making it harder to defend itself against a US racketeering and trade-secrets theft prosecution. Thomas Green, a lawyer for the Shenzhen, China-based telecommunications giant, said at conference in the case that travel restrictions have made it impossible for defence lawyers to gather evidence. The US State Department last month issued a do-not-travel warning ...

Bloomberg Lots of female chief executive officers have stories about conquering adversity. Radhika Gupta’s begins when she entered the world with a broken neck. The birth complication left Gupta’s neck with a permanent tilt, a feature that at times had an impact on her self esteem but has now become a source of inspiration for doing things differently. At 36, ...

Bloomberg Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd warned that its maintenance plan must be supported by the government or South Africa can expect regular blackouts from power cuts of 8,000 megawatts by mid-2021, a move that would cripple the economy. Shortly after taking up the role in January, Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter said more planned power outages, known locally as ...

Bloomberg Vienna utility Wiener Stadtwerke GmbH agreed to buy a stake in neighbouring Lower Austria’s EVN AG from Germany’s EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG, tightening Austrian provincial governments’ grip on the power market. Wiener Stadtw-erke agreed to buy EnBW’s 28% stake in EVN, subject to antitrust approvals in Germany and Austria, the municipality-owned company said in a statement. The parties agreed ...

Bloomberg US coal use plunged more than 13% in 2019, the most in 65 years, as power plants shut down across the country. That’s poised to happen again this year. Total consumption slumped to 596 million tons in 2019 from 688 million tons in the prior year, according to the US Energy Information Administration. This year, the figure is expected ...

Bloomberg Italy’s stimulus plans to cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak won’t be factored in when assessing the country’s compliance with the European Union’s fiscal rules, the bloc’s executive arm said. In a letter to the government in Rome, the European Commission’s top economic officials approved the recently announced spending plans, saying such one-off measures won’t be considered ...

Bloomberg Germany will expand government loans and guarantees if demand and supply disruptions intensify because of the spread of the coronavirus. While offerings such as bridge loans and credit guarantees are currently sufficient, the authorities are prepared to make more funds available and expand programs if factory closures become more widespread, the economy ministry said, a day before the ruling ...

Bloomberg The UK market watchdog wants big British public companies to disclose more about their exposure to climate risks — or tell investors why they can’t. The proposal from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is part of a growing effort by policy makers and money managers to confront how companies will manage the shift to a lower carbon economy. The ...