Huawei backed better spectrum harmonization at Wednesday's ITU conference. "Global spectrum synergy helps reduce the complexity and cost of implementing 5G” for all stakeholders, it said. “Distribution of nationwide spectrum remains the model of choice and main thrust by national regulators. At the same time, network synchronization should be considered to improve spectrum utilization efficiency and reduce interference.”

Global smartphone shipment growth will be “nearly flat” in 2019's second half compared with a year earlier, while the market declines 2.2 percent for full year, said IDC Monday. That would make 2019 the third straight year of “global contraction,” though IDC expects shipment growth to recover in 2020, rising 1.6 percent. "The global smartphone market and relevant supply chains remain uncertain, largely due to fluctuations in U.S-China trade negotiations, making future planning even more challenging than normal," said the researcher. Consumers continue holding on to their devices longer making upgrade and replacement sales “difficult for the vendors and channels alike,” it said. “Expectations of aggressive promotions and offers in the second half of 2019 aimed at helping to clear out any channel inventory and get consumers excited about the next wave of smartphone technology should steer the market back toward renewed growth." IDC sees 5G as “a ray of hope” for the smartphone business: Though 2019 is “very much an introductory year at best,” 2020 looks to be the year in which “5G begins to ramp up.” It estimates 5G models will be 8.9 percent of smartphones shipped globally in 2020, growing to 28.1 percent share by 2023. "We don't think 5G will be the savior in smartphones, but we do see it as a critical evolution in mobile technology,” said IDC. “We expect the 5G ramp on smartphones to be more subtle than what we saw with 4G.”

Japan’s Rakuten is a firm worth watching, Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche told investors. “Rakuten is planning a commercial launch of mobile service which will use cloud-based software and commoditized hardware,” she said Sunday: “If successful it would likely dramatically lower the cost of service for the average consumer and could have significant impact on the 3 larger incumbents in Japan. … Last week Rakuten faced a bit of a curveball and announced it had to delay the launch of its commercial service which resulted in a significant decline in the shares.” The analyst said Dish Network, in particular, appears interested in the technology.

Chinese domination of 5G could have broad implications because “modern consumer society has rapidly evolved from domination by ‘things’ to domination by information,” Hudson Institute Senior Fellow William Schneider wrote in a paper released Thursday. “An integrated infosphere meets aspirations held by the People’s Republic of China to dominate and control the global information infrastructure," he said: “Beijing’s investments in 5G reflect an understanding that this technology is the gateway to control the world’s information infrastructure and growing realm of 5G-dependent technologies.”

A white paper by 5G Americas, released Wednesday, said 5G will continue to evolve in the years ahead and spectrum will remain a “key ingredient” requiring harmonization of bands “across national boundaries.” Rysavy Research wrote the report. “Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of small cells will increase capacity and provide a viable alternative to wireline broadband,” the report suggests: Artificial intelligence “will optimize 5G network efficiency, make devices easier to use, enable new applications and leverage a hybrid architecture of central cloud, edge clouds and device computing.” The move to 5G “has been happening simultaneously with continued advances in 4G LTE,” said Rysavy President Peter Rysavy. “5G will transform wireless network capability by facilitating extremely dense deployments, harnessing spectrum never before available for cellular systems, being able to use extremely wide radio channels, employing virtualization methods, and supporting new ultra reliable and low latency applications.”

Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and ex-Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson argued Tuesday that policymakers should devote an “equivalent -- if not greater -- focus on the security” of 5G networks as they do on the need for the U.S. to be at the forefront of the “connected future” the technology promises. Wheeler is a Brookings Institution visiting fellow and Simpson a Virginia Tech College of Business IT professor. “To build 5G on top of a weak cybersecurity foundation is to build on sand,” they reported for Brookings. “This is not just a matter of the safety of network users, it is a matter of national security.” Wheeler made similar arguments about the need for more attention on 5G security in July (see 1907090044). The former officials urged policymakers to treat 5G security as a priority and hold companies responsible for their cyber “duty of care,” meaning their responsibility to “identify and mitigate potential harms that could result” from services. Wheeler and Simpson said the federal government should establish a new “cyber regulatory paradigm" in which there’s closer cooperation here between the public and private sectors. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in 2017 reversed a Simpson-authored white paper on communications sector cybersecurity regulation and a notice of inquiry on cybersecurity for 5G devices (see 1702060062 and 1702060059), among other moves (see 1702030070). The FCC and Commerce Department should “re-engage” with international standards-setting bodies like the 3rd Generation Partnership Project to ensure “informed third-party oversight early in the 5G industry’s design and deployment cycle in order to prioritize cyber security,” the ex-officials said.

Huawei had “limited involvement” in the Wireless Innovation Forum Spectrum Sharing Committee's work developing the spectrum access system (SAS) and environmental sensing capability (ESC) technologies for sharing the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told seven senators in letters posted Thursday. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and five others wrote Pai and then-acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan in June about their concerns (see 1906060015). The company is under scrutiny from lawmakers worried it could affect security of 5G technology (see 1905230066). Blackburn and others eye legislation to prevent President Donald Trump's administration from lifting Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security restrictions on Huawei (see 1907220053). The company's involvement in the WinnForum work has effectively ceased because “its membership was suspended on May 21,” Pai wrote. “I have also been informed that Huawei has not had access to any materials regarding military operations, including those of the Navy, beyond what has been made publicly available.” The WinnForum aims “to establish and maintain a secure technological platform that allows users of CBRS spectrum to identify with precision and share as appropriate access to this scarce public resource,” Pai said. “Doing so effectively and efficiently will speed deployment of services, particularly those involving 5G.”

"Ligado is not 5G," and its own commissioned study shows it would play a limited role even in an LTE network as power limits to squelch out-of-band emissions (OOBE) mean it likely could deploy only in densely populated urban areas, Iridium said in an FCC docket 12-340 posting Tuesday. Iridium said Ligado still hasn't addressed OOBE concerns about the 1627.5-1637.5 MHz band and potential interference to Iridium. It said Ligado's spectrum is outside international 5G standards. Ligado didn't comment Tuesday. Iridium has repeatedly raised red flags about Ligado's proposed terrestrial low-power service Iridium-raised red flags (see 1905150008).

A Huawai executive said the effect of U.S. trade sanctions on its business will likely be less than what it initially feared. Huawei said in June the blacklisting would hit revenue by $30 billion, with no topline growth in 2019 (see 1906190018). “It seems it is going to be a little less than that. But you have to wait till our results in March,” Deputy Chairman Eric Xu said, Reuters reported. Huawei announced Friday what it bills as the world's “most powerful AI processor,” the Ascend 910, and an all-scenario artificial intelligence computing framework, MindSpore. “We have been making steady progress since we announced our AI strategy in October last year,” Xu said Friday. “Everything is moving forward according to plan.”

Nearly eight in 10 U.S. consumers plan to use 5G as the springboard to expand their video-streaming activity, IHS Markit found. IHS canvassed 2,030 consumers late May on which types of activities they’re likely to increase with the arrival of 5G, and most ranked video streaming first, ahead of video calling, social media, mobile gaming, virtual reality and augmented reality. “The promise of faster video streaming through 5G is generating enormous enthusiasm,” it said. “Interest is particularly high for those younger than 50, with 81 percent of survey respondents in that age range citing video streaming as the top activity for 5G.”