Daily Briefing: Alibaba and Lazada team up in Singapore; New phones for cash-strapped expats

And here's what commuters need to know about surge pricing.

From Bloomberg: Alibaba’s bringing its teeming Taobao internet marketplace to Singapore. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Lazada Group SA are teaming up to sell select Taobao products direct to shoppers in the affluent island-state, striking their first partnership since the Chinese company took control of Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce operator a year ago.

From AFP: A Singapore migrant welfare group has started distributing 3G-enabled mobile phones to cash-strapped foreign workers days before the city-state shuts down its 2G network. Telecom operators in the highly wired island will end second-generation services on April 1, forcing thousands still relying on it to upgrade their handsets or become a casualty of technology's relentless advance.

From DollarsAndSense: At the beginning of March, several taxi companies applied to the Public Transport Council (PTC) to introduce “surge pricing” for taxi rides that are made through bookings. They include Comfort, Trans-Cab, and Premier Taxi, as well as Prime “considering” implementing it. Taxi fares in Singapore has not been regulated since 1998. However, any changes in fares have to be made known for approval by the PTC.

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