Alaska’s GCI tapped Ericsson to build the U.S.’s northernmost 5G network. The carrier said Tuesday customers will get "faster data speeds, improved coverage and better voice quality ... even in basements and big box stores.”

Claims that 5G will harm other services, including weather forecasting, are wrong, GSMA said. In the U.S, questions were raised in particular about the 24 GHz band (see 1906170023). “The mobile industry has already demonstrated within leading international standards bodies that 5G can be used safely alongside other services, including weather sensing services, commercial satellite, radar and other applications using adjacent airwaves,” said a Monday news release: “The GSMA is confident that 5G services and weather sensing services can co-exist, and warns against giving credence to those claiming a negative impact from 5G networks on weather forecasting data.”

The 24 GHz band is important to 5G and the FCC should be sure it ends up in the hands of providers, said Joel Thayer, ACT|The App Association policy counsel, in an American Enterprise Institute interview by visiting fellow Shane Tews posted Monday. “The good news is that the 24 GHz auction is over, and there seems to be little appetite to undo it.” Thayer said the record is clear: “NTIA has found no interference issues for incumbent government users (including NASA and NOAA’s National Weather Service) with the concurrent use of commercial wireless services in its two-year long investigation. Even after the State Department, the main arbiter of interagency disputes, weighed in and sided with the FCC, these two agencies still disagree with their sister agencies and maintain their objections to the 24 GHz auction.”

Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and House Commerce Committee Vice Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., led filing of Telecommunications Opportunities for Workers Engaging in Real (Tower) Infrastructure Deployment Act to increase workforce training for 5G-related jobs. HR-3255 would direct the FCC to create the Telecommunications Workforce Development Advisory Council to develop recommendations on “needs of the workforce in the communications industry to promote the deployment” of telecom facilities, “ways to encourage participation in industry-led workforce development programs” and “ways to improve” communications industry workforce development. The council would include representatives from NTIA, the Telecom Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program, state, local and tribal agencies, the communications industry and “a minority institution.” By “streamlining workforce development programs and promoting industry collaboration, we can free up resources for greater broadband deployment instead of recreating the same curriculum across the country,” Walberg said Friday. “Women and people of color are underrepresented in the telecom industry, which is why I am committed to drafting and supporting legislation that addresses this unacceptable reality,” Clarke said. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr praised HR-3255's filing, saying "expanding America’s skilled workforce is essential to our country’s leadership in 5G and building out next-generation networks. In fact, industry estimates that it could fill another 20,000 job openings for tower climbers and telecom techs alone." The National Association of Tower Erectors and the Wireless Infrastructure Association also lauded the bill.

Huawei told the FCC banning any network equipment vendor for national security reasons (see 1905150066) will do nothing to make 5G safer. “Not only would a policy of targeting specific vendors be insufficient to address supply chain concerns, it may also cause the United States to violate its international trade obligations,” the Chinese telecom gearmaker said, posted Thursday in docket 18-89. “Huawei cannot and will not sabotage its customer networks. But recent actions by the United States Government are only one step away from doing so.”

Verizon asked the FCC not to impose restrictions NTIA seeks on the carrier's ability to lock handsets (see 1906070032). “Although NTIA supports Verizon’s petition for a partial waiver of the handset locking rule to combat this type of fraud, it suggests that the Commission should ‘narrow the scope of a partial waiver in order to maximize continuing benefits to consumers,’” Verizon said, posted Thursday in docket 06-150. The company's proposed temporary waiver “was crafted to be as targeted as reasonably possible while still being effective and already strikes the appropriate balance. The additional limitations that NTIA asks the Commission to consider fail to appreciate that as soon as a device is unlocked, there is no mechanism to relock that device,” the carrier said: “It is therefore critical for Verizon to combat fraud on the front end.” The commission took comment on the waiver in April (see 1903050057).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stressed the importance of 5G security in a speech Wednesday at the U.S.-India Business Council India Ideas Summit. “Implications are wide-ranging,” Pai said: “5G will affect our militaries, our industries, our critical infrastructure, and much more. The procurement and deployment decisions made now will have a generational impact on our security, economy, and society.” In the world of 5G, “We cannot afford to make risky choices and just hope for the best,” Pai said. “We must see clearly the threats to the security of our networks and act to address them. And the more that allies like the United States and India can work together and make security decisions based on shared principles, the safer that our 5G networks will be.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., urged President Donald Trump's administration Thursday not to use U.S. restrictions on Huawei as a “bargaining chip in trade negotiations” with China. Trump's May executive order bars some foreign companies' technology from U.S. networks and the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security filed a notice adding Huawei and affiliates to a list of entities subject to export administration regulations (see 1905160081). BIS issued a general license temporarily allowing certain transactions by Huawei and the affected affiliates through Aug. 19 (see 1905210013). Trump later said sanctions against Huawei could be part of trade negotiations with China (see 1905240038). OMB acting Director Russel Vought later requested a two-year delay in implementing government contracting and procurement-related restrictions on Huawei included in the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (see 1808130064). “Europeans have publicly expressed fears that the Administration will soften its position on Huawei,” especially given Trump's instigation of a settlement that lifted the Commerce Department ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to Chinese firm ZTE (see 1807130048), Rubio and Warner wrote Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. “Instead, the U.S. should redouble our efforts to present our allies with compelling data on why the long-term network security and maintenance costs on Chinese telecommunications equipment offset any short-term cost savings.” Any modifications to BIS' temporary general license for Huawei “must be pursued in a risk-based way, separate from any trade negotiations, and consistent with national security considerations,” the senators said. “Conflating national security considerations with levers in trade negotiations undermines” U.S. work with Europe, India and other “international partners.” The House Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, Thursday advanced its version of the FY 2020 NDAA with language directing the defense secretary to conduct a comprehensive assessment of DOD policies on telecom and video surveillance services and equipment from foreign contractors and subcontractors, including identifying ways to mitigate threats via the debarment and suspension process. The bill would direct the defense secretary to implement a strategy for 5G technologies. It recommends giving DOD $175 million to ensure effective Joint Force operations in 5G spectrum.

Ericsson predicted 5G subscriptions will hit 1.9 billion, up about a quarter from a previous forecast and with 35 percent of traffic carried on 5G networks, all by the end of 2024. That's the fastest growth for any new generation of wireless. “5G is on a roll,” the company said Tuesday: During Q2 “several markets switched on 5G following the introduction of new 5G-compatible smartphones. Some communications service providers have set ambitious targets of reaching up to 90 percent population coverage within the first year.” The number of mobile subscriptions worldwide grew 2 percent year-on-year to 7.9 billion in Q1, the report said.

Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chairs Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., pressed Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta Tuesday on what the department is doing "to ensure development” of a “highly-skilled workforce with the training necessary to efficiently deploy 5G services and infrastructure.” They asked Acosta what steps Labor “is taking to support and advance specific training or apprenticeship programs that will promote U.S. efforts to win the race to 5G.” Industry has been helping with such training (see 1905240039).