FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr applauded the Department of Labor for awarding a $6 million apprenticeship grant to the Wireless Infrastructure Association. The department “has recognized the critical role of tower techs, linemen, and other 5G workers in building our country’s information infrastructure and has provided new resources to expand that workforce,” Carr said Wednesday. “The training offered at technical schools and through apprenticeships gives students a path up towers and into the middle class with only a couple of months in the classroom.” The 5G initiative “will help equip America’s future workforce with the skills needed to build next-generation wireless networks to lead the global race to 5G,” said WIA President Jonathan Adelstein.

Nokia is launching a 5G certification program for providers and businesses “to help industry professionals realize the full business potential of end-to-end 5G networks,” said a Monday news release. The program will offer two certifications, associate and professional, “covering everything from the basics of 5G networks to professional level planning and design,” Nokia said. The program launches at the end of the month.

With 24 nations globally doing midband auctions to support 5G deployments, the U.S. needs to look beyond the C-band and citizens broadband radio service auctions to other means of freeing up midband for 5G, CTIA President Meredith Baker told FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel, according to docket 18-122 ex parte postings (see here and here) Monday. The steps should include issuing a further notice on licensing the upper portion of the 6 GHz band and a notice proposing to remove existing nonfederal allocations in the 3300-3550 MHz band, it said.

Attorney General William Barr said the U.S. government and its allies should be “actively considering” proposals to bolster Ericsson and Nokia “through American ownership of a controlling stake, either directly or through a consortium of private American and allied companies” to make them more effective competitors against Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei. Barr’s remarks at a Center for Strategic & International Studies conference came hours after Huawei sued Verizon in two U.S. district courts in Texas for allegedly violating the Chinese company’s patents on networking technology. Verizon abused patents via a range of services, including on Fios and network infrastructure components that “facilitate communication through Verizon’s networks,” Huawei said in its complaint. Verizon “profited greatly” from its abuses of the patents, which netted it $29.8 billion, Huawei claims. The lawsuit “nothing more than a PR stunt,” Verizon said. “This lawsuit is a sneak attack on our company and the entire tech ecosystem. Huawei’s real target is not Verizon; it is any country or company that defies it. The action lacks merit, and we look forward to vigorously defending ourselves.” Barr said U.S. backing of Ericsson and Nokia is preferable to the “pie in the sky” proposals supported by others in President Donald Trump’s administration to work with U.S. tech companies to develop open radio access networks software for 5G networks aimed at stemming concerns about the security of Huawei equipment (see 2002040056). The open RAN “approach is completely untested, and would take many years to get off the ground, and would not be ready for prime time for a decade, if ever,” Barr said. “What we need today is a product that can win contracts right now -- a proven infrastructure that network operators will make a long-term commitment to today. In other words, we need a product that can blunt and turnaround Huawei’s momentum currently.” Ericsson and Nokia are the “only two companies that can compete with Huawei right now,” Barr said. “They have quality, reliable products that can guarantee performance. They have proven successful in managing customers’ migration from 4G to 5G. The main concern about these suppliers is that they have neither Huawei’s scale nor the backing of a powerful country with a large market, like China.” Putting the U.S.’ “large market and financial muscle behind one or both of these firms would make it a more formidable competitor and eliminate concerns over its staying power,” he said. Barr urged the FCC to “move decisively” toward an auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band and “bring resolution” on the L band (see 2002060057). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel criticized Barr, tweeting that it’s “becoming clear as day” the Trump administration “does not have a coordinated plan for our 5G future. We need one.”

3rd Generation Partnership Project is canceling some face-to-face meetings because of the coronavirus virus (see 2002040037), the group said. 3GPP cited “the critical situation in China … the fact that the coronavirus outbreak is a global health emergency and represents a risk outside of China” and “travels restrictions/company policies already applied.” The group recognized that the “main driver in this situation is and must be the health and safety of our delegates, we should avoid organizing large [face-to-face] meetings in Q1, even when the location of meeting is not in China, to avoid international flights in this critical period.” Umair Javed, aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, tweeted Tuesday: “Apparently the #coronavirus is now slowing down #5G standards work.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Mike McCaul, Texas, led a resolution with House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and two other committee GOP members criticizing the U.K.’s decision to allow equipment from Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei on “non-core” parts of its communications infrastructure (see 2001280074). The resolution says the U.K. parliament should “reject or amend” the decision and makes it the sense of the House that 5G networks “that incorporate products and services developed by Chinese companies face significant technological, political, ethical, and geopolitical risk.” The resolution’s other co-sponsors are Reps. Mike Turner, Ohio, and Ted Yoho, Florida. Cheney was among lawmakers who recently filed legislation to bar the U.S. from sharing intelligence “with any country that permits operation within its national borders” of Huawei-produced 5G equipment (see 2001080002). The White House didn’t comment on a report it’s working with Microsoft, AT&T, Dell and other U.S. tech companies to develop software for 5G networks aimed at creating a viable alternative to Huawei equipment. Dell and its VMware subsidiary work "with governments and carriers around the world in support of many modern technology solutions," a spokesperson emailed. "We are actively supporting 5G and the rapid deployment of 5G services and are excited about the opportunities it presents.” The other companies didn’t comment.

ZTE asked the FCC to exempt it from the list of covered companies deemed a threat to U.S. networks. The FCC approved national security supply chain rules 5-0 in November, barring equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE in networks funded by the USF and establishing rules that could block other providers (see 1911220033). “ZTE has settled its case relating to export control and sanctions violations” and isn't listed by the Commerce or Treasury Departments for any export control or sanctions restrictions targeting it,” it said Monday in docket 18-89: ZTE’s “is committed to ensuring that our Company conducts business only in compliance with all applicable laws where we are operating, including U.S. export and sanctions laws and regulations. ZTE has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to implement a compliance program relating to U.S. export control compliance regulations and continues to work to enhance its compliance program.” The company said it's also making progress on cybersecurity: “Providing secure and trustworthy products and services for our customers is one of ZTE’s highest priorities." Comments are also coming in on a related Further NPRM. NTCH and Flat Wireless said they understand the security concerns: “Companies who innocently bought such equipment, or were forced to buy such equipment because of unfunded federal mandates, with no knowledge that it could be used as a portal for foreign interception should not be forced to bear the financial burden of destroying that equipment without compensation.” The State E-Rate Coordinators’ Alliance said the FCC should exempt USF recipients outside the E-rate program from the prohibition. “The greatest threat to national security involves the use of covered equipment and services in Eligible Telecommunications Company networks rather than in the more localized facilities of other USF recipients such as schools and libraries,” the alliance said.

Charter Communications will offer 5G mobile service this quarter, said CEO Tom Rutledge on a Q4 call Friday. It's "likely to participate" in the upcoming citizens band radio service spectrum auction, he said. Asked whether Charter would ever move to its own wireless network instead of relying at least partly on a mobile virtual network operator, Rutledge said it depends on pricing. He said it has no immediate plans to change its Verizon MVNO relationship, and anticipates it existing "for years to come." Rutledge said 10G investments will be done incrementally over time, and won't require an immediate network overhaul, saying Charter surpassed 10G capabilities in lab testing. Q4 revenue of $11.8 billion rose 4.7 percent year over year. It ended 2019 with 24.9 million residential broadband customers, up 5.4 percent, 15.6 million video customers, down 3 percent, and 9.4 million voice customers, down 6.8 percent. It has 1.08 million mobile lines, compared with 134,000. The stock closed up 5 percent to $517.46.

Verizon reported mixed Q4 results, like AT&T the previous day (see 2001290025). Verizon had 852,000 wireless retail postpaid additions, including 588,000 phones, the highest net adds in six years. Postpaid churn was 0.86 percent. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg told analysts Thursday Verizon is interested in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. The carrier has done extensive tests, and it works, he said: “It’s going to be definitely something we’re using as it comes out.” On 5G more generally, Verizon committed to launch in 30 cities and is up to 31, Vestberg said. The company expects more than 20 5G devices to come to market in 2020, with a 5G Apple device driving uptake. “We're building a unique 5G experience with our millimeter wave that nobody else is building,” the chief said. Profit was $5.22 billion, up from $2.07 billion in the year-ago quarter and slightly some analyst estimates. Wireline revenue of $3.2 billion fell 1.7 percent. Verizon, unlike AT&T, is increasing capital expenditures, which means lower free cash flow, said MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett. In other ways, the results are similar, he wrote investors. “The wireless business is getting more competitive,” said the analyst. “Churn is rising and margins are falling, and the highly anticipated (feared?) 5G upgrade cycle hasn’t even started yet. And everything other than wireless is even worse. AT&T’s non-Mobility segments were a disaster. Verizon’s non-wireless segment … was, well, a catastrophe.” Wireless phone adds “were strong, though this won’t be much of a surprise following comments from AT&T and T-Mobile about how aggressive Verizon was in the quarter,” said New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin. “Churn didn’t spike as much as others, though this isn’t surprising given that they were the ones promoting most aggressively (inflicting higher churn on others).”

AT&T reported mixed results Wednesday for Q4, with growth in wireless and declines elsewhere. There were 229,000 postpaid phone net adds. Entertainment reported 945,000 premium TV-subscriber cancellations, an improvement over a nearly 1.2 million loss the same quarter last year. Communications Workers of America slammed AT&T for cutting almost 38,000 jobs since 2018. “AT&T continues to cut jobs and reduce capital expenditures even as the company announced record operating and free cash flow for 2019 and more than $5 billion in stock buybacks in the past four months,” the union said. The telco didn’t comment. Executives stressed overall economics, on a call with analysts, saying the company cut net debt by $20.3 billion throughout 2019. “We'll continue to invest aggressively and at top-tier levels into our core businesses,” CEO Randall Stephenson said: “We expect to invest $20 billion in 2020. Leading in 5G is critical for AT&T, and we're not slowing down. We're more than 75 percent complete on our FirstNet build.” The company has plenty of spectrum to deploy 5G, said President John Stankey. “Our strong spectrum position gives us a leg up and allows us to execute a different 5G deployment strategy than our competitors,” he said: “We have the low and mid-band spectrum to deploy 5G nationwide. We cover 50 million people today and expect to be nationwide" in Q2. Revenue was $46.8 billion, down from $48 billion a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA declined to $14.4 billion, from $15 billion. The quarter ended Dec. 31. “Wireless subscriber growth improved, though not as a result of improved churn as we expected,” NewStreet’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors: “Pay-TV trends were quite a bit worse than we expected, and the path to stabilization in 2020 appears more tenuous. Everything else was a little worse than we expected too.” MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett said as AT&T sheds costs, it’s up against two clocks. “One clock is counting down to the next recession,” Moffett told investors: “We don’t know when a recession will come, of course, but when it does, AT&T will have to have reduced its leverage to a sustainable level.” The second “is counting down to the obsolescence of at least two of AT&T’s most important businesses,” WarnerMedia and DirecTV, he said. The stock closed down 4 percent Wednesday at $37.05.