25/02/2014 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.

The giants of the mobile phone world are in Barcelona. We discuss the

latest announcement. And find out more about the transpacific

partnership talks in Singapore. Welcome to an Asia Business Report,

I am Rico Hizon. The movies and shakers of the technology world are

in Barcelona. Several big technology companies are using the gathering to

launch a new product and announced big ideas. SANZAR is at the big

meeting and says its next smartphone range will feature biometric

security. The new phone will be available in

April. The messaging service says it will offer voice calls to its

funding of 50 million customers. The news comes after it was acquired by

Facebook for $19 billion. The move is seen as a threat to Telecom

operators. In its first ever appearance at the conference, Mark

is also in Barcelona is a firm that has

unveiled a prototype model for a new smart phone. The developing world is

getting quite spoilt at this Congress. This is a prototype phone.

It will not into production. Inside this is a deal struck between two

firms. It has been trading on Twitter as the $25 phone. It has its

own operating system. With this and Nokia's android phone we will see a

lot of budget phones hitting the market which is good news for

everybody. You will not be able to do everything you can on a high and

smart phone but it is fantastic for someone who wants to get online but

does not have access to the money. Earlier I spoke to Jake Saunders. It

will really help to bring on board billions of new subscribers. There

are two challenges, the devices are too expensive and it is all about

Internet access. People like Mark Zuckerberg are saying we want to get

more users in Indonesia, India and China. They are trying to go to

local operators. Not many operators are keen on that at the moment.

White? They are under tremendous competition in many markets. That

pushing down on the margins, tariffs have been dropping dramatically.

Even though the increase of four G services, many of the operators are

seeing the same price as their three G services. It is putting a lot of

Bashar on the operators. They also offer Wi-Fi and basically be

consumers benefit. Many operators do have Wi-Fi hotspots but that will

not be everywhere you go. So that is why they are keen to make other apps

available. Banking giant HSBC which has a big presence in Asia posted a

9% rise in profit for last year. Boosted by cost-cutting as it

restructures the business. The result fell short of expectations

and the lender warned of choppy times ahead.

Microsoft is to drop the price of its new Xbox one console. Just over

three months after its release. In the UK it cost about $750 and will

drop to $665 on Friday. So far, the drop will only apply to the UK

market. A big dispute between the Indonesian government and the mining

industry comes to a head today. They are discussing a new law that

will mean all raw minerals must be processed in Indonesia before

export. It was supposed to boost jobs but many companies do not have

the facilities required and say it is bad for business.

The 2000 mining boom have also been appointed as a prime example of an

uncertain legal framework. It contains a bat on raw mineral

exports. The government asserted that miners were given five years to

build smelters in Indonesia but many companies say the timeframe was not

realistic. The law was only clarified by implementing

regulations of 2012. By the time those regulations came out but with

the deadline of 2014 still in place, it only gave 20 months. That was not

enough to even get approvals. Now companies that are not yet able to

process minerals domestically, they are allowed to export after paying a

hefty tax. They have to pay 25% this year and that will be increased to

60% in 2016. According to companies, 60% is practically a ban.

They will build smelters very soon. The biggest issue at the moment is

uncertainty. If the government could put some certainty into this whole

regulation, if it could be realistic in its timeframes it may find a

better attitude. So it is not so much the government 's attention

that businesses have a problem with. It is the way the regulations are

carried out. How Indonesia manages this is good as that term in its

future growth. Trade ministers are holding their

final rate of negotiations today for an ambitious new free trade zone

called the transpacific partnership. The deal links 12 countries and is a

key part of America's pivot to Asia. It is a key part of Obama 's

strategic shift to Asia. They would meet a deadline of December at best

bat and so now the hope is that they can come to a agreement by April

which is when the US President is scheduled to visit. It has faced

resistance especially with the Japanese. This is over sensitive

topics such as agricultural taxes. The Japanese and US trade

representatives met for the second round of talks. Both sides came away

from the talks with the agreement with the Japanese saying that big

gaps still remained between the two sides. For more what is happening

here, I am joined by a trade expert. Thank you for joining us.

What is your view on the meetings? Will we see a deal come out on the

final day of talks? I don't think so. I think they will get close. By

the end of the year, yes. This is the largest trade agreement outside

of the EU -- EU. This is a very big deal as it stands. It has the

potential to get much bigger. There are eight countries that are likely

to join in the next group of countries. Including China, Hong

Kong, South Korea. This could get even bigger with 20 countries in it.

I think that makes it a very significant agreement that needs to

conclude as quickly as possible. The Japanese Prime Minister has faced

opposition at home. Most notably from farmers and agricultural lobby

groups. What is the likelihood of their making concessions? Is a

matter of political will. It is a matter of both sides being willing

and able to say in the interests of this larger agreement, we are

willing to take on some very challenging domestic political

lobbies and say to them, you have to give a little in order to get this

much larger promise for the society as a whole. Thank you. As you can

see, there is still a number of challenges for the countries

involved. As to whether they can come to an agreement this year

remains to be seen. Before we go, here is a quick look

at the market. Asia stocks are in positive territory. Games have been

made by the resources sector. Japan and Australia are in positive

territory. The UN has delivered humanitarian

aid to a handful of refugees living in the ruins of the Syrian capital,

Damascus. Tens of thousands more remain in desperate need.

EU officials are in Ukraine - to discuss lending financial and

political support. Russia's Prime Minister has accused the country's

new leaders of an "armed mutiny" Labour's deputy leader Harriet

Harman has denied