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NCAA Season 95 women’s volleyball begins today

WOMEN’S volleyball action in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) begins today with defending champions Arellano Lady Chiefs headlining the opening-day proceedings against the Lyceum Lady Pirates.

Led by last year’s most valuable player Nicole Ebuen, Arellano enters the Season 95 tournament looking to notch a four-peat after claiming the title in the three previous seasons.

First to test the Lady Chiefs is Lyceum in the scheduled 12 noon match at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Also on tap today is the clash between Season 94 runners-up University of Perpetual Help Lady Altas and the College of Saint Benilde Lady Blazers at 2:00 in the afternoon.

Completing the field are the Colegio De San Juan De Letran Lady Knights, Emilio Aguinaldo College Lady Generals, Jose Rizal University Lady Bombers, Mapua University Lady Cardinals, San Beda University Lady Red Spikers, and the San Sebastian College — Recoletos Lady Stags.

Season 95 women’s volleyball action can be seen over iWant. They are also live-streamed over the ABS-CBN Sports Website (sports.abs-cbn.com).

Beginning the semifinals though, action will be broadcast over ABS-CBN S+A. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Tonelle Racasa to play in World Youth Rapid and Blitz chess championship

THE Philippines’ youngest Woman Fide Master Antonella Berthe “Tonelle” Murillo Racasa will head to Greece with hopes of improving her world ranking aside from bringing more honor for the country.

Accompanied by his father/coach Roberto Racasa who is also an International Memory Sports champion, fondly called Tonelle in the chess world will see action at the World Youth Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship slated from April 12–16, this year in Heraklion, Creta, Greece.

Tonelle is also scheduled to represent the country in the HD Bank Chess Championship to be held on March 6–12, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Her campaign locally and internationally were supported by D. Edgard A. Cabangon of ALC group of companies, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) Chairman Andrea D. Domingo, Mayor Menchie Abalos and Councilor Charisse Abalos-Vargas of Mandaluyong City, Rogelio SP Lim, President of RSP Lim Construction Co., Inc. owner and developer of Boni Tower, immediate past president of Makati Med Rose Montenegro and Jean Altobano of Multi-Modal Security and Investigation Agency, Inc.

Prior to Greece and Vietnam international chess competition, Tonelle will compete for next month National Capital Region Palarong Pambansa qualifying round.

Tonelle is also fresh from winning the 2020 National Age Group Chess Championships-Visayas Leg (Under 14 Girls) held in SM Seaside Cebu City last Jan. 3 to 5.

It was a slow start for her by drawing the first game against Yzabelle Nabor. Then, like a heated diesel relinquished her remaining six opponents namely: Queen Rose Pamplona, Aeralyn Sinining, Casey Manlosa, Nathalie Liscano, Edelyn Vosotros and Arnie Joanne Suravilla to score 6.5 out of possible 7 points.

It shall be recalled that Tonelle won the 19th ASEAN International Age Group Chess Championship held last June 2018 in Davao City. She bagged the gold medal in the standard competition and at the same time captured the coveted WFM title for her effort. Thus, Tonelle became the country’s WFM at the age of 11. — Marlon Bernardino

Jokic outduels Doncic late as Nuggets edge Mavericks

DALLAS — Nikola Jokic scored 33 points, including a go-ahead layup with 7.9 seconds left, and the visiting Denver Nuggets beat the Dallas Mavericks 107-106 on Wednesday night.

Jokic added seven assists and six rebounds. Jerami Grant scored 15, Jamal Murray had 14, while Mason Plumlee and Malik Beasley scored 10 each for Denver.

Luka Doncic had 27 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, Dwight Powell scored 16, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 15, Seth Curry 14 and Maxi Kleber had 13 for the Mavericks.

Dallas played its fifth straight game without Kristaps Porzingis (knee), while the Nuggets were without two starters, guard Will Barton (personal reasons) and Paul Millsap (knee).

The game was tied at 101 when the Mavs’ Dorian Finney-Smith hit a 3-pointer with 2:57 left, and Jokic missed on the other end. Hardaway’s bucket made it a five-point lead, but Jokic hit a shot in the lane, and Grant hit two free throws to make it 106-105 with 1:27 to play.

After trading misses, Denver got the ball back with 23 seconds left. Jokic got the ball in the post, backed down Finney-Smith and hit a layup with 7.9 seconds left.

The Mavericks called timeout, but the Nuggets trapped Doncic to force him to pass, and their scrambling defense prevented Dallas from getting a shot up before the horn.

The Mavericks opened up a seven-point lead in the third quarter, but Jokic got hot, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and feeding Beasley on another shot from deep to rally the Nuggets to tie it at 86.

Jokic scored nine of his 21 third-quarter points in a span of 2:12.

Justin Jackson and Curry combined to hit a trio of 3-pointers to allow Dallas to take an 89-86 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Kleber scored the first four points of the final period to stretch the lead to 93-86, but with the starters on the bench, Denver rallied to take a 97-96 lead on Michael Porter Jr.’s dunk.

Beasley hit another 3-pointer to make it 100-98 Nuggets, and Curry answered with a long jumper to tie it, where it stayed entering the game’s final five minutes. — Reuters

Junior Philippine golfers impress US NCAA Division 1 coaches

US NCAA Division 1 coaches Andrew Larkin of UCLA, Richard Mueller of Columbia University and Christopher Massoleti of UC Berkeley expressed admiration for the 35 young Filipino golfers who joined the DreamBig Gold Series Golf Camp at Orchard Golf & Country Club, Dasmariñas, on Dec. 16 and 17.

Besides the skills that the junior golfers showed, the coaches said it was their attitude towards the game that impressed them the most.

“Filipino players, compared to other players we’ve conducted the camp with are more eager and willing to learn. They’re more open to instruction and also to criticism. I never had to repeat myself because no one was interrupting. Everybody was eyes on when I was giving a demonstration. There was instantaneous attention to detail and they also asked very intelligent questions. To me, that was very impressive. There are a lot of talented players that will definitely play high level golf in the US,” said UC Berkeley’s Massoleti.

Meanwhile, Akshay Maliwal, Founder/CEO of DreamBig Events said, “It was a brilliant opportunity for golfers in the Philippines to get an evaluation about their golfing ability and whether they would have a chance to get recruited to one of these colleges in the future. We have many more events coming to Philippines annually. Stay tuned!”

DreamBig continues its premier camps with the Gold Series Tennis Camp set to this month at the Manila Polo Club.

Kingad intends to put lessons of 2019 into good use

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

FOLLOWING an eventful 2019 that had him learning a lot both as an individual and as a fighter, Danny “The King” Kingad intends to put the lessons he got into good use as he begins another year with ONE Championship.

Set to see action at “ONE: Fire & Fury” on Jan. 31 at the Mall of Asia Arena against Xie Wei of China in a flyweight battle in the main card, Mr. Kingad (13-2) of Team Lakay said he is upbeat entering another year with Asia’s largest sports media property and showcase his skills anew.

“Everyone will see something new from me in the coming year,” shared Mr. Kingad as he gears up for his upcoming fight.

“With everything that I learned about myself in 2019, [this] year will be a chance for me to show how much I have grown. My personal goal is to win every match in order to become worthy of a world title challenge soon,” he added.

Mr. Kingad last fought in October in Japan where he lost by unanimous decision to American Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in the finals of the ONE flyweight grand prix.

The Filipino stood toe-to-toe against his legendary opponent but just did get the nod of the judges in the end.

Despite falling short in his quest to bag the grand prix title, 2019 was still a solid year for Mr. Kingad, winning three of his four fights.

His victories came at the expense of Japanese Tatsumitsu Wada and Senzo Ikeda and Australian Reece McLaren, in that order, defeating all of them by decision.

“I learned a lot. I was against top-caliber athletes who were able to make me realize some of my weaknesses, which I continuously work on to improve,” said Mr. Kingad, who prior to his loss to Mr. Johnson racked up six straight victories.

The Team Lakay stalwart said he is expecting a not-so-easy fight against knockout artist Xie (5-2), who has won all his five fights last year in ONE.

Just the same, Mr. Kingad said he is coming into the fight prepared and is out to give the hometown fans a good showing.

The Kingad-Xie fight is part of Fire & Fury, the first for ONE in the country for 2020.

It will be headlined by the ONE world strawweight title fight between reigning champion Joshua Pacio of the Philippines and former champ Alex Silva of Brazil.

Other Filipinos set to see action in the event are former lightweight champion Eduard Folayang, strawweight Lito Adiwang, and women atomweight fighters Gina Iniong and Jomary Torres.

ONE Championships incidentally begins its new season today in Bangkok, Thailand, with “ONE: A New Tomorrow” to be bannered by the ONE flyweight muay thai world championship clash between hometown champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Jonathan Haggerty of the United Kingdom.

DMG Cup to celebrate 20th year

THE late industrialist, businessman and delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Commission Domingo M. Guevara Sr. is honored every year by his family with a golf tournament that brings together the close friends and business partners of the family. This month, the DMG Memorial Cup will be having its milestone 20th year.

This invitational golf tournament, in honor of the late Domingo M. Guevara Sr., will tee off today at the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club.

Over 200 invited golfers, mostly friends of the Guevara brood throughout the years, will be participating in this prize-rich tournament. All four par-three holes in the West Course of Wack-Wack will have hefty hole-in-one prizes care of major sponsors like Autonation, Standard Insurance, GAC Motor and Cocogen. Depending on where you make a hole-in-one, the prizes include a Harley Davidson motorcycle, 3 sedans and two bundles of P100,000 cash.

Exploring opportunity

Tom Brady’s presser in the aftermath of the Patriots loss to the Titans last week was laced with uncertainty. In part, his inability to answer queries on his future with any modicum of certainty stemmed from an unexpected ouster from the playoffs prior to the divisional round — a first in a whole decade. In larger measure, it was a natural offshoot of his status as a would-be free agent at 42, and for the first time in his career. And given the deflating end to a season that began with promise and progressed with expectations of a successful Super Bowl defense, he understandably needed to process his situation before moving on.

All the same, it bears noting that Brady used the words “pretty unlikely” and “hopefully unlikely” in assessing the possibility of retirement. Clearly, he planned to keep on playing, a validation of his belief that the Patriots’ failure in recent memory didn’t reflect his frailties, but, rather, of those around him. And as if to ensure that all and sundry got the message, he conveyed his desire to suit up anew in an Instagram post the other day. “In both life and football, failure is inevitable. You don’t always win. You can, however, learn from that failure, pick yourself up with great enthusiasm, and place yourself in the arena again. And that’s right where you will find me. Because I know I still have more to prove.”

Brady’s right, albeit not in the way he thinks. Even as the Patriots did have an offensive line that lacked the depth to make up for the loss of do-it-all Rob Gronkowski in the offseason, his discernible drop in productivity as the campaign wore on did them no favors. Advanced statistics don’t lie. If they kept winning, it was because of their defense and in spite of their struggles to put points on the board — struggles that he exacerbated instead of minimized. It’s certainly why head coach Bill Belichick refused to categorically endorse his return in a post-mortem that was telling in terms of both the little put on record and the lot left unsaid.

Belichick would go only so far as to acknowledge that Brady “is an iconic figure in this organization.” It was a sentiment shared by franchise owner Robert Kraft, who disclosed that “my hope and prayer is, number one, he plays for the Patriots. Or, number two, he retires.” Well, number two is out. And as for number one, the fact that they didn’t come to an agreement on a contract extension last August makes it an iffy proposition at best. At this point, anything is possible and everything is on the table. “I’ll explore those opportunities whenever they are,” he told Peter King of NBC Sports. “If the Patriots, great. If not, I don’t know.”

Which, in a nutshell, means the answers will have to wait. They won’t be long in coming, but the safe bet has Brady prefacing them with assurances of better support around him, whether with the Patriots or elsewhere. Yes, it’s a commitment to lead. And, yes, it’s a tacit nod to his declining form.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Property price hikes pose rising risk to banks

PROPERTY PRICE hikes fueled by the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) sector may pose increasing risks to the banking industry, according to Fitch Ratings.

“Recent data point to speculative activity that could affect market stability if unchecked,” Fitch said in a note sent to reporters on Wednesday.

“To the extent that the increase in prices has been driven by a boom in the Philippine online gaming operator sector, it may also expose banks and the property industry to greater policy risk.”

Fitch noted that prices of residential properties rose 10% year on year in the third quarter of 2019, making it one of the strongest growth prints in any major real estate market since 2010.

Condominium prices in Metro Manila climbed by an “unsustainable” 34% year on year, Fitch pointed out.

“The surge partly reflects a 75 bps (basis points) decline in Philippine policy interest rates since April 2019, but also strong demand from the POGO sector, which anecdotal reports suggest has accounted for around 30% of Metro Manila office demand over 2018-3Q19,” the credit rater said.

“Fitch believes this activity is likely to have had spillover effects on nearby residential property prices,” it added.

Policy rates stand at four percent for the overnight lending facility, while overnight reverse repurchase and overnight lending rates stand at 3.5% and 4.5%, respectively, following 75 bps worth of cuts last year which partially offset the 175 bps in rate hikes implemented by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in 2018.

A report by real estate service firm Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC) in December traced that POGOs have become the single biggest source for office space demand in the country as the industry accounted for 44% or about 738,000 sq.m. of Metro Manila’s office space in 2019, overtaking the information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) sector.

This is a 67% surge compared to the 443,000 sq.m. worth of space POGOs occupied in 2018.

The influx of POGO workers has in turn translated to robust demand for residential spaces, particularly condominiums in key areas where POGOs operate — Makati City, Alabang, Quezon City and the so-called Bay Area.

‘SPECULATIVE’
Fitch said a prolonged period of “rapid house price inflation” may cause increased borrowing, especially if the rise in prices is “speculative.”

Higher real estate prices could also cause property developers to “over-invest in future supply, risking an inventory overhang if demand weakens.”

“Both trends have a tendency to raise private-sector leverage, making the economy more susceptible to downside risks. Studies show that asset bubbles fueled by credit booms typically lead to deeper and longer downturns,” the credit rater said.

“Increased scrutiny or a clampdown on the sector by Chinese or Philippine authorities could call into question the growth and viability of the industry and may ultimately lead to knock-on effects on domestic property demand and the broader economy,” Fitch added.

Fitch said banks’ real estate exposure has remained “broadly stable” at around 20% of total loans since 2015. However, credit growth has been high at around 14%, and 13% for real estate lending since 2015.

Latest BSP data showed loans for real estate activities inched up by 19.3% year on year to P1.631 trillion as of November 2019 from P1.354 trillion the previous year.

Fitch said the credit implications of the rise in property prices will depend partly on lenders’ underwriting standards, with a sharp correction in the real estate market likely to pose risks to banks’ asset quality.

“A significant loosening of underwriting standards designed to accommodate price affordability, such as a relaxation of loan-to-value limits or debt-service ratios, or a shift towards excessive loan tenors, could negatively affect our assessment of their rating profiles, particularly if coupled with weakening loss-absorption buffers. Rapid price appreciation also makes it harder for banks to assess the true market value of property, raising downside risks to collateral valuations,” the debt watcher said.

Fitch said so far, its rated banks’ underwriting standards “remain broadly acceptable.” As for their asset quality, lenders’ current capital ratios are expected to give them ample buffers despite their exposure to the real estate sector. — L.W.T. Noble

Construction sector loses as much as 35% of costs to corruption — economist

THE CONSTRUCTION industry spends as much as 35% of its costs to pay corrupt officials, higher than its profit, according to a think tank.

Building companies allot 15% to 35% as “other costs of doing business,” economist Ronilo M. Balbieran told an industry conference on Wednesday, referring to corruption.

“Ask any contractor what is your net profit rate, they will all say 8% to 10%, maximum 15%,” Mr. Balbieran, vice-president at REID Foundation, said.

“And then they will all tell you ‘something is happening out there’ — and how much is that? 15% to 35%,” he added, alluding to corruption.

The foundation, a nonprofit consultancy that was commissioned to work on a 10-year industry road map released last year, studied the Philippine building sector by interviewing industry participants, he said.

The construction industry’s value chain includes 30% to 35% in raw material costs, 15% to 20% labor, 10% to 15% in equipment and 15% to 20% in project management.

It also spends 8% to 10% on administrative support, 10% to 15% on transport and logistics and 2% to 3% on design, Mr. Balbieran said.

Under the road map, the construction industry expects higher productivity through digital technologies, strong government leadership and regulations, improved quality of services and global competitiveness through increased scale and specialization.

The construction industry expects to contribute P130 trillion to the Philippine economy in the next 10 years under the road map, Mr. Balbieran said. This would fall to P43 trillion without the road map, he added.

Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez told reporters the industry’s action plan would help address corruption. He added that the sector could cut corruption costs using technology and new ways of doing business.

“It’s really part of the study that they did and we also hear about that because it’s there,” Mr. Lopez said.

He said computerized procurement would help cut face-to-face contacts, adding that the industry should fine-tune their bidding and procurement processes.

Open bidding would also help eradicate opportunities for corruption, Mr. Lopez said.

The Trade department commissioned the industry road map in partnership with the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP) and Philippine Contractors Association (PCA).

Mr. Lopez said the agency would back legislation that seeks to institutionalize the government’s infrastructure program.

There could be a law mandating infrastructure spending as a percentage of the national budget “if we want to really continuously build infrastructure,” Mr. Lopez said.

Continuous infrastructure spending after the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program is part of the industry’s road map recommendations. — Jenina P. Ibañez

January Meralco rates to go down

HOUSEHOLDS in Metro Manila can expect a decrease in their electricity bills in the first month of 2020, with typical households set to see a reduction of P82, the Philippine capital’s largest power distribution utility said on Wednesday.

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) in a statement said the overall electricity rate will drop by P0.41 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P9.4523 per kWh in January, from last month’s P9.8623 per kWh.

Those consuming 200 kWh — who make up the largest residential customer segment — will see their bills reduced by P82.

Those using 300 kWh, 400 kWh and 500 kWh can expect their monthly bill to go down by P123, P164 and P205, respectively.

“Notably, this month’s overall rate is also P0.3862 per kWh lower than the January 2019 rate of P9.8385 per kWh,” the company said.

Meralco said lower costs under the utility’s power supply agreements (PSA) with generation companies brought down the generation charge for the month.

Joe R. Zaldarriaga, head of Meralco’s public information office, said the lower PSA charges was “brought about by a reduction in capacity fees as a result of the annual reconciliation of outage allowances done at the end of each year under the PSAs approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission.”

He said the early completion of the annual capacity payment for unit 1 of the Sual power plant and unit 1 of the Pagbilao plant, along with Panay Energy Development Corp. resulted in savings immediately passed on to consumers through lower electricity rates.

For January, the generation charge dropped to P4.9039 per kWh, or down by P0.2928 per kWh from P5.1967 per kWh last month.

Meralco said the decrease was mainly because of a P0.8659 per kWh reduction in the cost of power from the company’s PSAs, which accounted for 49.9% of its total requirement this month.

The cost of power from independent power producers (IPPs) also went down by P0.0634 per kWh with the improved dispatch and strengthening of the peso against the US dollar. The company said about 96% of IPP costs are dollar-denominated. IPPs made up 41.2% of the utility’s energy requirements for the period.

In contrast, charges from the Wholesale Electricity SpotMarket (WESM) rose by P1.7031 per kWh because of the tighter supply conditions in Luzon.

Last month, grid operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed Luzon on red alert on Dec. 3 after the limited availability of power plants in Batangas and Quezon provinces because of Typhoon Tisoy.

On Dec. 16, the Luzon grid was placed on yellow alert because of forced and scheduled outages of some power plants. These were the same reasons for the same alert issuances on Nov. 26 and 28.

NGCP issues the alert warnings when reserve power supply goes down. When supply thins the utility turns to WESM, which accounted for 9.4% of Meralco’s needs.

Meanwhile, the transmission charge for residential customers dropped by P0.0517 per kWh as a result of lower NGCP ancillary service charges. Taxes and other charges also decreased by P0.0656 per kWh.

Meralco said its distribution, supply, and metering charges had been unchanged for 54 months, after these recorded reductions in July 2015. It reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges.

“Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers, while payment for the transmission charge goes to the NGCP,” it said, adding that taxes and other public policy charges such as the universal charges and the feed-in tariff allowance are remitted to the government.

Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Victor V. Saulon

UAE: No risk to oil flow through Strait of Hormuz

ABU DHABI — The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) energy minister said on Wednesday he saw no immediate risk to oil passing through the vital gateway of the Strait of Hormuz after Iran attacked bases housing US forces in Iraq.

Iranian officials have said the missile strikes were a response to Friday’s killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

The situation is not a war, and what is happening now should not be exaggerated, Suhail al-Mazrouei said on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, an OPEC producer.

“We will not see a war,” he added. “This is definitely an escalation between the United States, which is an ally, and Iran, which is a neighbor, and the last thing we want is more tension in the Middle East.”

Oil prices were about 1% higher on Wednesday, but well below highs hit in a frenetic start to the trading day after the missile attacks raised the specter of a spiraling conflict and disruption to crude flows.

OPEC’s Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo told the conference in Abu Dhabi that oil facilities in Iraq, the second-biggest producer in OPEC, were secured and output was continuing.

He said spare oil capacity stood at around 3-3.5 million barrels per day (bpd), the majority with Saudi Arabia, the top producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

NO SUPPLY SHORTAGE SEEN
The UAE’s Mr. Mazrouei said OPEC would respond to any possible oil shortages if necessary within its “limitations.” But he saw no grounds for supply shortage fears, with healthy demand and global oil inventories hovering around the 5-year average.

“We are not forecasting any shortage of supply unless there is a catastrophic escalation, which we don’t see,” he said.

Mr. Barkindo said he was confident that leaders in the Middle East were doing everything possible to restore normal conditions.

The region was shaken last year by attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz and an assault on Saudi energy plants that initially halved the kingdom’s crude output.

Washington and Riyadh blamed their common foe Iran, also an OPEC member, for those strikes, a charge Tehran denied.

Mr. Barkindo said the forecast for global demand growth was around 1 million bpd, adding this was “not robust and not alarming.”

Asked what message he would send to US President Donald Trump, Mr. Barkindo told the gathering that the United States’ emergence as the biggest producer of crude oil and liquid gas should carry shared responsibility for energy market stability.

“OPEC alone can’t shoulder that responsibility. We invite the United States to join us in this noble objective,” he said.

OPEC and its allies, a grouping known as OPEC+, has been capping production since 2017 to avert oversupply and support prices. — Reuters

China’s Realme aims to double smartphone shipments in 2020

SHANGHAI — Chinese smartphone maker Realme shipped 25 million phones in 2019 hopes to ship 50 million in 2020, the company said on Tuesday at an event announcing its first 5G device.

The remarks come as the fast-growing smartphone brand, which saw fast adoption in India in 2019, steadily turns its focus towards its home market in China, as device makers hope that consumers buy new phones this year compatible with the country’s expanding 5G infrastructure.

Realme’s X50 5G device is priced at roughly 2499 yuan ($359.71) for the cheapest variant, marking a lower cost mid-range entry in the recent spate of 5G devices released by Chinese brands.

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Oppo have each released four 5G models to date. Xiaomi Corp. has launched three models, and CEO Lei Jun said last year the company would aim to unveil at least 10 models in 2020.

Apple Inc., which has seen sales in China struggle since their peak in 2015, is expected to release a 5G device later this year.

The 5G smartphone wave comes as China rapidly upgrades its telecommunication infrastructure to include 5G base stations. As of late November, China had 113,000 base stations in service, according to state media reports.

This has given Chinese smartphone brands an incentive to boost sales domestically. Overall Chinese phone sales dropped 4.5% annually in October 2019, according to government data.

Realme originated as a sub-brand under Oppo, one of China’s top smartphone brands, before spinning off as an independent division. Both companies, along with Vivo, and Oppo, are owned by BBK Electronics Corporation, a decades-old device maker.

The brand grew shipments in India nearly four-fold between Q3 2018 and Q3 2019, according to data from research firm IDC.

Will Wong, who tracks China’s smartphone sector of IDC, attributes the Realme’s success in India to its affiliation with Oppo, as both brands are known to give retail partners higher margins on device sales than competitors.

He adds that while China is a new market for the brand, it will steadily become a priority as 70% of the market is still low-end to mid-range. — Reuters

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