TC Roundup: China to spend $182B to boost Internet by end of 2017

China to spend $182 billion to boost Internet by end of 2017: China will spend more than $182 billion to boost Internet speeds by the end of 2017, a top government body said, as Beijing moves towards a more service-driven economy to boost growth.

The State Council said the government will invest more than 430 billion yuan ($69.3 billion) this year on network construction, with at least another 700 billion yuan ($112.8 billion) spent over the following two years. (Reuters)

Yahoo CIO Mike Kail no longer with company: Mike Kail, chief information officer and senior vice president of infrastructure at Yahoo Inc. has left the company after less than a year.

Mr. Kail "has chosen to leave the company in order to pursue other opportunities," Yahoo told CIO Journal. Mr. Kail did not immediately respond to a message sent via Twitter. (The Wall Stree Journal)

Google's e-commerce plans in question as executive departures mount: A year ago, Google's commerce initiatives finally seemed to be clicking. Its same-day delivery service, Google Express, was a hit with consumers in San Francisco and its business selling paid product ads in search was, by most accounts, a big success with big retailers.

How quickly things change. In November, Tom Fallows, the architect of Google Express, stunned employees by leaving for a role at Uber. Then, this month, Fallows's well-regarded boss, Sameer Samat, followed him out the door to become president at Jawbone, the health-tracking device maker. (CNBC)

Vietnam's chat app Zalo challenges Facebook with 30 million registered users: FPT may be Vietnam's largest tech company with a newfangled US$3 million seed fund announced just yesterday, but VNG is considered Vietnam's largest consumer tech company with products stretching from music downloads to news to a chat app.

Today, VNG announced that it just hit 30 million registered users worldwide on its chat app Zalo. Zalo now sees 400 million messages per day. That's up 10 million more users from November last year and nearly 20 million up from this month last year. (Tech in Asia)