ACT|The App Association said 5G means some “8.5 million jobs will be created over 2019-2025 compared to a counterfactual 4G-only world,” in a report released Tuesday: “These workers will earn more than $560 billion during that time, create $1.7 trillion in additional output, and add over $900 billion to U.S. GDP.”
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., led filing of the Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act Thursday. The bill aims to increase the 5G workforce by requiring the Labor Department to lead an interagency working group that would develop recommendations to address the telecom sector’s labor needs. The department would issue guidance on how states can address the telecom workforce shortage by identifying existing federal resources. The measure would direct GAO to study the number of workers needed to build and maintain 5G infrastructure. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and three other senators are co-sponsoring the bill -- Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; Gary Peters, D-Mich.; and Jon Tester, D-Mont. “Right now, there simply aren't enough workers with the necessary training to meet the needs of nationwide 5G,” Thune said in a floor speech. CTIA, the National Association of Tower Erectors, NTCA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association hailed the bill’s filing.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter will host a March 16 hearing in Detroit on 5G, big data, privacy, artificial intelligence and civil rights, the FCC announced Thursday. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., experts and advocates will join the 1 p.m. discussion at Wayne State University School of Law. “The benefits of 5G technology must meet the needs of all Americans, including low-income people, people of color, people living with disabilities, people residing in rural communities, children, and the many ways in which those identities intersect,” the announcement said. The discussion will include how to minimize privacy harms and data abuse of marginalized communities.
Intel’s announcement Monday of its Xeon Scalable platform for 5G networks (see 2002240035), and other core network infrastructure products, positions the company “as a premium supplier of compute platforms that need to be upgraded to make 5G a reality,” wrote Jack Gold, principal of J. Gold Associates, Tuesday. Intel “has wisely chosen to refocus its 5G efforts” away from making high-volume low-margin modems “that ultimately lose money” and instead toward high-power computing platforms that can power the build-out of core networks that will be enabled by 5G connections, said Gold. The analyst expects a surge in workloads deployed at the edge of the network as operators look to host solutions to reduce latency, increase performance and offload the "networking bottleneck of sending everything into the cloud" -- while boosting revenue with new service offerings. Intel expects to have a 40% share of the millions of next-gen base stations running on Intel Architecture in the next 1-2 years, he said, noting “Intel needs to have partners that produce systems built on top of their components to make this a winning strategy.” The company has solid partnerships with most cellular infrastructure players that have been developing equipment based on the Intel Architecture for years, he noted. As networks move to more mobile edge computing, “there is no doubt that compute power will be a key component of network operators and their equipment providers.” Citing expected “massive growth” from edge computing in the next few years, Gold said “Intel will be playing a significant role in 5G -- just not in the area many thought it should be in."
CTIA urged the FCC to launch a Further NPRM on licensing the 6.525-7.125 GHz band for flexible-use services and moving incumbent fixed service operations to other spectrum. NTIA has been scoping the 7125-8400 MHz band (see 1908010065). What CTIA seeks could be difficult since federal agencies, particularly DOD, are active in the band (see 1912230035). CTIA isn’t giving up and filed a Commsearch report saying the move is possible. “Merely matching other countries’ spectrum investments, however, will not be enough for the U.S. to lead in our new 5G economy because these nations are not finished,” CTIA said in docket 18-295, posted Tuesday. “Other leading countries are on track to make available four times as much licensed mid-band spectrum as the U.S. by the end of 2020, with nations like Japan and South Korea pushing ahead with plans for additional mid-band spectrum in the next few years.”
Verizon, Samsung Electronics Americas, Motorola Mobility and Qualcomm Technologies said Tuesday they hit peak 5G speeds of 4.2 Gbps using 28 GHz spectrum in a test in Texas. “Using carrier aggregation, a technology that combines multiple channels of spectrum to provide greater efficiency for data sessions transmitting over the wireless network, the four companies combined eight separate channels of mmWave spectrum to achieve the multi-gigabit speeds on Motorola’s upcoming flagship smartphone,” Verizon said.
Intel launched a portfolio of next-generation hardware and software products Monday designed to meet the needs of 5G networks. The Atom P5900, a 10-nanometer SoC for wireless base stations, provides the high bandwidth and low latency required for wireless 5G base stations, it said. Intel is eyeing a $25 billion silicon opportunity in network infrastructure. Its 5G portfolio also includes scalable Xeon processors; the company said 50% of core network deployments this year are transforming to virtualized networks. Other products in the portfolio are Diamond Mesa, a structured application-specific integrated circuit, and the Ethernet 700 series network adapter with GPS-based cross-network service synchronization.
Under an agreement announced Friday, U.S. Cellular can buy Samsung's 5G network solutions, including 5G New Radio technology, said Samsung Friday. U.S. Cellular will launch its 5G network to deliver indoor and outdoor service, it said. No timetable was given. The agreement also covers 4G LTE network solutions, it said.
The FCC plans a March 26 forum on 5G virtualized radio access networks, Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday. “At the forum, experts at the forefront of the development and deployment of interoperable, standards-based, virtualized radio access networks will join Chairman Pai and other Commission staff to discuss this paradigm-shifting approach to 5G network deployment,” the FCC said. Pai said the FCC is focused on 5G: “One way to advance this priority is through the development and deployment of more secure, cost-effective 5G network components, Virtualized radio access networks could help us do that.” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel wants more focus on the security benefits of network virtualization (see 1910230060). “Glad the FCC is following my lead,” Rosenworcel tweeted: “Next up: let's have the FCC set up testbeds to accelerate this technology in the United States.” The forum starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room.
Retailers will begin taking preorders Friday for Samsung's 5G S20 ($849), S20 Plus ($1,049) and S20 Ultra ($1,349) flagship smartphones due in stores March 6. Sprint’s offer to customers switching to its service is $0 per month for the Galaxy S20 when they trade in a Galaxy S8 or newer model in any condition. In a buy-one-get-one offer, customers who lease a Galaxy S20, 20 Plus or Ultra 5G can get an S20 included with a Sprint Flex lease, it said. The carrier's True Mobile 5G network covers about 20 million people in nine metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix and Washington, D.C., it said. Sprint claims an average download speed of 213 Mbps, some five times faster than its LTE service. Best Buy’s website says it's offering up to $850 in savings on Galaxy S20 series purchases for qualified activation and trade-in, plus a $200 Samsung credit, when customers preorder by March 5. On Thursday, trade-in values topped out at $700 for latest-generation Samsung and Apple phones and at $600 for the Google Pixel 4 XL, said Bestbuy.com. The trade-in value is applied to a Best Buy gift card. T-Mobile was taking online sign-ups to be notified when customers could order the new Galaxy phones. It noted that “5G is still developing,” not all devices are compatible and a 5G uplink isn't available.