31/01/2014 Asia Business Report

The Met Office said there was more rain snow and winds to come. Time

for the latest business news live from Singapore with Rico.

Talent is up for national elections on Sunday despite protests and

unwilling calls for the opposition for it to be stopped. Myanmar begins

to welcome to international telecom providers into its market. You're

watching Asian business report. I'm in Singapore. As you have heard on

Tuesday, elections in Thailand are scheduled to go ahead this weekend

despite a boycott by the opposition and thousands of protesters calling

for the polls to be stopped. In addition to millions of dollars in

lost business, three months of demonstrations have also impacted

the government's duties. The commerce ministry had to delay the

release of its monthly trade darter as protesters closed ministries and

government agencies. Earlier I spoke to Tony Nash about businesses and

the worries around the election upheaval. Number of businesses are

worried about exports, impeding the supply chain. The automotive

industry and other in -- industries. In Bangkok we don't expect

disruption. Outside of an extreme event. What they are still isolated

in the capital, Bangkok, it has not spread outside of the country.

Businessmen are still hopeful to see a resolution going forward.

The resolution we will likely see from a political scenario is the

military coming into force on the two parties to talk and come to talk

and compass uncompromised. The election will go forward on Sunday,

we don't expect a new parliament to start because there are a number of

seats that are not being contested. The Parliament needs to have 95% of

seats filled in order to start. We will likely have by-elections over

the next three to six months, short of a military coup or judicial coup

that the opposition is looking for, this will be a long, drawnout

process. We will speak again on Monday after details of the election

results. Consumer prices rose in December in Japan. Asian's Secker

biggest economy -- a second is economy as suffered in the past. Up

by about 1% from many expectations. Other new dart around today revealed

that the country's job market is improving, with unemployment falling

slightly in December to 3.7% from the month before. Shares in's big

department store David Jones rose by 4.5 percent after rejecting a $1.2

billion proposal from rival mire. -- mire. David Jones said the

implementation of a transaction would have had business and

revelatory risks. The two companies are no longer insults. My

MRgovernment have signed contracts with to tell communications

companies. Because you's Telecom allegations infrastructure is poor

and investment is expected to be running into the billions of

dollars. We caught up with the chief executive of one of the companies

that won the Telecom contract. At the moment my has won mobile phone

operator. -- Burma. The service is pretty dire. That could be all about

the change. Two companies have signed a licensing agreement with

the government, a Qatari company and a Norwegian company. I am joined by

the Chief Executive Officer of one of those companies in my MR. It has

taken six months to get that contract. Is that a sign of how

difficult it is to get business? It is a sign of how professional they

were. They wanted the rules in place and so we knew what the framework

was. We have been busy. We have had 350 people on the ground. More than

half of whom are local and we will hire more in the coming months and

by the next few months we will be 70% me and more. At. For you,

getting this contract, this licence must be almost a licence to print

money. Is a historic occasion for us. For the people of Myanmar, it is

great. We are building a three G network from scratch. There is a

huge domains there. 16 million people in a country where very few

people enjoy services. This is one of the world's last frontiers for

building telecommunications and we are absolutely thrilled to be a part

of it. You mentioned you are building a three G network yeah,

people around the world are saying why waste your time on three G? When

there is 4G. We are building a 4G capable network. When we have the

frequency we can upgrade to 4G. They are calling Myanmar won the final

frontiers for telecommunications and 2014 could be the year that

everything changes. Two companies launching their networks in the race

is on to get the networks up and running. Many companies in Asia are

celebrating the Chinese New Year which starts today. Times are

changing and demand for these handcrafted items is on the wane.

One family business which has been going on for 80 years says the

future is not looking so bright. It is mid-morning in Stephen is getting

ready to make a delivery. The sticks take hours to make and not much

longer to be reduced to a pile of ash as they burn outside of the

temple gates. Each stickers made of the ground up branches of the

cinnamon tree, formed into a clay, 15 years ago, they were individually

handcrafted and hand-painted, today, the clay is put into a mould and the

paint comes from the juice of a spray gun. It is all part of trying

to ensure that an 80 -year-old stick making business survives. Stephen

and his brothers, Albert and Amis, run the business. We love it.

Something skilled that you don't find anywhere else. The brothers

learn the trade from their father who in turn was taught by his father

who came to Singapore from China in the 1930s. In its heyday, the

business supported a family of 12 with all of the siblings involved.

We all live together and everybody helped. You can see your parents

working and you just think is none of my business. Even in school they

start working. Now the rules have changed. The clay is mixed in a

workshop far from the family home is and the more lucrative giant sticks

the family used to be make have been banned on environmental grounds. As

well, there are cheap imports to compete with. The family has cut

costs and diversified but it is not enough. Amis's thought of wants a

more comfortable life. -- daughter. We are not so interested and we

don't have the skill to do it. Our parents and my uncles, if we

continue this line, we don't have a guaranteed right future. The family

business simply does not make enough for everyone to live on. No, I will

tell my kids, don't do this, you're wasting your time. The family still

makes a living out of a product that is designed to be destroyed. There

are in business has endured for much longer. -- their own business. We

have so many brothers, there are so many children, my niece and my

nephew, it is a bit sad, really. We won't be able to carry it to another

generation. After 80 years, the clock is now ticking on a dying

trade. For Asian audiences, make sure you take a look at our revamped

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on to that. Before we go, look the market on the Asia Business Report.

A few of them are open right now due to the lunar New Year holidays. They

are currently getting a reprieve after US equities gained overnight

as data showed the US economy grew strongly in the last quarter of

2013. The Tokyo market is up by 22 points. That is after consumer

prices rose in December. Australia is also in positive territory by

five points. The US GDP numbers basically pushing Wall Street

industries in the higher ground. Thank you for investing your time

with us. Goodbye. The main news stories in London this hour. A fresh

appeal hearing in Italy has reinstated the conviction of Amanda

Knox and Raffaella Select chateau for the murder of the British

student Meredith Kercher, found stabbed to death in Perugia in

2007. American prosecutors are saying they will