The importance of 5G is underscored by how 4G “powered remarkable economic growth and transformed the way Americans live and work,” Recon Analytics and CTIA reported Wednesday. “Nearly 10% of the GDP increase of the entire U.S. economy from 2011 to 2019 was due to the growth of the U.S. wireless industry.”

As the U.S. moves toward 5G, it should focus on modular architecture with open interfaces, which would make networks less reliant on equipment vendors Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung, the Center for a New American Security said Tuesday. The U.S. “has the opportunity to regain momentum by taking a fresh approach to 5G” in the aftermath of COVID-19, CNAS said. It warned the pandemic will likely slow deployments. It said: “A modular architecture allows an operator to choose multiple vendors for a range of offerings, rather than being locked in with a single large integrated vendor. Open interfaces -- the ability of equipment from any vendor to work with that of another -- make that possible. Such a shift means upending the industry status quo.”

It's not enough to restrict sales of chips to Huawei, and convince allies not to use the Chinese company in their 5G networks, experts said at a Senate Banking Committee Economic Policy Subcommittee hearing Wednesday. Rather, they testified, both 5G and export controls should be looked at more broadly. Martijn Rasser, senior fellow in the Center for a New American Security's Technology and National Security Program, said 5G networks will be essential to all the U.S. does in technology, so getting it right is urgent. Of talk of the U.S. buying an equity stake in Nokia or Ericsson, or creating its own "national champion" company in telecom equipment, that's "nibbling at the edges of the question," he said: Networking is an oligopoly, "which is why I’m advocating for a whole new approach." Rasser suggests the U.S. should convince allies to support open radio access networks. He said U.S. companies are strong in software, and this approach would make the industry more competitive. Tim Morrison, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said the way to win the economic competition with China is through a trade agreement similar to the Trans Pacific Partnership, leaving developing countries out except Mexico, and adding the U.K. and South Korea. Michigan State University Economics professor Lisa Cook, who agrees intellectual property theft is a problem in China, said it's ironic, because Chinese inventors are receiving more and more U.S. patents to protect their own innovations. "On the other hand, when I was in China," she said, the people she met told her because China "is a developing country, it deserves to have intellectual property rights abrogated." Rasser said export controls on semiconductors aren't as effective as putting them on chipmaking equipment. China's embassy didn't comment.

5G will deliver more security than earlier generations, 5G Americas said Wednesday. Threats are greater because of the “pervasive nature of 5G,” the paper said. “The entire wireless cellular network has been re-architected to use new capabilities such as software-defined networking, network function virtualization for new services, and cloud-native architectures for scalability,” 5G Americas said: “The implementation of these elements requires additional encryption, extra defense in edge networks, and sophisticated new protocols.”

Samsung jumped the gun on its own Aug. 5 Unpacked event Wednesday, announcing its next foldable phone, the 5G version of the Z Flip, launched in February. The $1,449 Galaxy Z Flip 5G, built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G mobile platform, will be available Aug. 7, said the company. In free-standing Flex mode, the phone’s display automatically splits into two 4-inch screens, allowing users to view content on the top half of the display and control it on the bottom half. In YouTube with Flex mode, the phone shows a video on the top half, and lets users browse, read descriptions and comment on the bottom half, said the company. Four months of YouTube Premium are included. Consumers trading in an eligible device on Samsung.com can get up to $650 toward the purchase.

LG’s Velvet 5G smartphone debuts Wednesday in the U.S. at $599 through AT&T, said the manufacturer Tuesday: T-Mobile and Verizon follow later this summer. It has a 6.8-inch OLED display with 20.5:9 widescreen aspect ratio. There are stereo speakers and 3D sound engine. Its main camera has 48 megapixels. LG bills the Velvet as its first “mobile platform” embedded with an application processor and 5G modem in a smaller package requiring less power.

Samsung is gearing up for Galaxy Unpacked, its annual summer mobile launch event. The Aug. 5 reveal is the first to be broadcast live from South Korea. New York was Samsung's pre-COVID locale of choice for such events. Innovation, collaboration and mobile agility are Samsung's top priorities in the new era it's calling the “Next Normal,” blogged Mobile Communications Business President TM Roh Monday. He cited roles mobile tech has played during the pandemic in distance learning, at-home fitness and online concerts. Samsung plans to bow five new “power devices” next month, said the executive, referencing handsets, hearables and wrist-worn products. Next-generation mobile solutions will have features that improve video-chat technology and help frontline workers “stay safe on the job,” he said. Roh referenced more personal, intelligent, useful and secure technology and a next-generation of foldable phones. The “wide range” of Galaxy 5G devices, available in more markets, will enable experiences “we can’t even imagine yet.” Samsung is continuing to collaborate with partners Google, Microsoft, Netflix and Spotify, and expanded its relationship with Microsoft so Galaxy smartphones and Windows PCs can share messages, photos and calendar reminders in real time, Roh said. Samsung will expand the Microsoft relationship through a gaming partnership with Xbox, he said.

The U.K. followed the U.S. lead in banning Huawei equipment on national-security grounds (see 2007140023) “without any solid evidence and under the excuse of non-existent risks,” said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wednesday. The U.K.’s action “blatantly violated” free trade rules and “eroded mutual trust underpinning China-U.K. cooperation,” she said. “China will evaluate this development in a comprehensive and serious manner and take all necessary measures to protect the legitimate and legal rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.” President Donald Trump’s disclosure Tuesday that he personally “convinced many countries” not to use Huawei as a condition for doing business with the U.S. was “further proof that decisions to ban Huawei are not about national security, but political manipulation,” said the spokesperson. Trump's remark “also shows the world that it is not China, but the U.S., that has been intimidating and threatening others and sowing discord all across the world,” she said.

The U.K. government followed the U.S. lead in banning Huawei equipment Tuesday. “The best way to secure our networks is for operators to stop using new affected Huawei equipment to build the UK’s future 5G networks,” Media Secretary Oliver Dowden told the House of Commons: “From the end of this year, telecoms operators must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei.” Dowden conceded the ban will delay the U.K.'s 5G rollout by two years and cost up to $2.5 billion. This “threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide,” Huawei said: "We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK." The announcement is “good news for the safety and security of 5G networks,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr tweeted. Others at the FCC agreed. “There is an overwhelming consensus that Huawei is in a position to exploit network vulnerabilities and compromise critical communications infrastructure for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The U.K. "has taken a necessary step to safeguard its national security as it builds out advanced networks,” he said. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., welcomes "these developments in the UK" and reiterates his hope that the Trump administration "will begin to engage multilaterally with like-minded allies on promoting secure and competitively-priced alternatives to Huawei equipment,” he said Tuesday. “My bipartisan legislation, the United Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act, would be a major step in the right direction and I hope to see it included, fully funded, in the eventual defense authorization act," said Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Charter opted to end ads contested by AT&T that mentioned the cable provider's 5G mobile service, the FTC said last week, referring to a National Advertising Division referral. With the marketing discontinued, the FTC said staff won't take further action. Charter emailed Tuesday that its Spectrum Mobile service offers "customers the best speeds at the best value and the letter references a process issue with NAD and is not related to our offerings. ... Charter is proud of our 5G services and our ads and disclosures are consistent with industry standards."