Sprint’s first two 5G devices -- the LG V50 ThinQ 5G and HTC 5G Hub -- launch in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Kansas City May 31, with pre-orders beginning Friday, said the carrier Thursday. The devices will roll out to Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Washington in the next few weeks. Limited-time pricing for the LG V50 is $24 per month, with $0 down -- half off -- on a Sprint Flex lease. The HTC 5G Hub, advertised at half off for $12.50 a month over 24 months, includes 100 GB of high-speed data on a $60-per-month plan. On a news-media tour in New York last week, a company spokesperson told us at launch, Sprint plans to cover about 1,000 square miles initially in its 5G footprint. Commenting on the different flavors of 5G carriers have promoted, the spokeswoman said, “We’re launching the real 5G, not fake 5G.” Data speeds will improve by 100 times, she said, with “much improved latency times” enabling vehicle-to-vehicle communication for autonomous driving, remote surgery and mobile gaming. The HTC hub, a Sprint exclusive at launch, is targeted to homes and small businesses, and can enable non-5G devices such as laptops, tablets, phones and TVs to “experience the speed of 5G,” delivering “smooth” 4K video streaming, “virtually buffer-free” gaming, and advanced 4G LTE hotspot connectivity for up to 20 users. In a home, the compact Hub could display a recipe in the kitchen while simultaneously powering a laptop, the spokeswoman said. As an entertainment device -- equipped with a gigabit Ethernet port, 7,660mAh battery, Qualcomm Snapdragon 855-powered Hub and X50 5G modem -- the Hub can replace a Wi-Fi router and eliminate unnecessary cables, said Sprint. It’s capable of delivering up to 60 frames per second 4K video on compatible TVs and supports Android and PC games. Sprint’s “robust” Unlimited Premium data plan, designed to get the most from mobile 5G, includes unlimited data, talk and text nationwide; Hulu, Amazon Prime, Twitch Prime, Tidal HiFi, and 100GB LTE mobile hotspot services. The $80-per-month service, for each line, carries a $150 value. A three-month subscription to the Hatch Premium cloud gaming service is included on Sprint 5G phones, offering unlimited on-demand access to more than 100 Hatch Original mobile games. It enables social gaming with competitive leaderboards in shared game sessions, voice chat, live tournaments and the ability to connect with friends.

General Counsel David Miller and others from T-Mobile and Sprint met FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry on their proposed deal. Also attending were Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, and members of the FCC's T-Mobile/Sprint transaction team, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-197. The companies “reviewed in detail the New T-Mobile 5G network build plan, as described in their network model and various filings previously submitted in this docket,” the companies said: “The representatives discussed the planned low-band and mid-band 5G network coverage, the pace and depth of such deployment, and the resulting speeds likely to be experienced by consumers using 5G devices. The representatives also discussed New T-Mobile’s incentives to complete the 5G network build as proposed.”

The Trump administration rightfully takes a strong stand against Huawei's controlling 5G, Adonis Hoffman, chairman of Business in the Public Interest, blogged Tuesday for The Media Institute. “Huawei is not your garden-variety Chinese company in the same vein as Tencent, Alibaba, or Baidu,” Hoffman said. “By many credible accounts, Huawei is a corporate extension of the Chinese government.” Huawei “has been accused of stealing technology from Cisco, Nortel, and T-Mobile,” he said. Huawei didn’t comment. It says it doesn't spy (see 1905100070).

House Commerce Committee leaders urged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to use the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council to closely examine 5G security. That issue was the subject of Capitol Hill interest earlier this year and will be the focus of Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing (see 1905080080). “As our U.S. network operators, from the largest to the smallest, gear up for significant infrastructure buildout for 5G and other advanced technologies, security should be a critical consideration and associated rules and regulations should be as clear as possible,” wrote four House Commerce leaders -- Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J.; committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore.; House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa.; and subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio -- just prior to Thursday's commissioners' meeting. “Although 5G security is apparently not an explicit focus of CSRIC VII, you have the opportunity to expand to additional issues as you so choose,” the lawmakers said. “We believe that policymakers and industry alike would benefit greatly from a thoughtful, careful consideration of these important issues by the FCC and CSRIC.” Pai said that he had previously asked CSRIC to look at 5G cybersecurity.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is aiming to reassure House Democrats about the agency's work to determine the safety of 5G RF emissions. House Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., separately wrote Pai earlier this year to raise concerns about 5G RF emissions, with DeFazio noting FCC RF safety guidelines “were adopted in 1996.” The FCC sought comment in 2013 on whether to revisit the issue (see 1304010037) and “it is unacceptable that six years later the FCC still has not conducted a reassessment” of those rules, DeFazio said. He also noted “increasing” concerns across the U.S. about 5G deployments, but the “federal government has not been transparent enough about the current status of 5G RF radiation research and its guidelines on RF exposure limits.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., also pressed the FCC for 5G RF information in December (see 1812050035). The 2013 proceeding remains open and FCC staff are evaluating all filings to determine “whether and in what way changes to our rules in this area should be made,” Pai wrote DeFazio in a letter released Friday. The FCC's current RF exposure limits include “recommendations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and other federal health and safety agencies. And these limits are derived from exposure limits recommended by” the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, which “have extensive experience and knowledge in RF-related issues and have spent a considerable amount of time evaluating published scientific studies that can inform appropriate exposure limits.” The FCC has sponsored groups of congressional staffers” at its Columbia, Maryland, “testing facilities to see and speak with our engineers and technicians as they operate the RF testing equipment to ensure proper compliance with engineering standards,” Pai said. A group of 20 Capitol Hill aides visited the Columbia facility earlier this year “and we hope to have another group visit this coming summer.” Pai said the same in a letter to Kim also released Friday.

Make spectrum above 95 GHz available for licensed use, 5G Americas asked the FCC. The group is “disappointed” the first spectrum horizons order created only “frameworks for Part 5 experimental licensing and Part 15 unlicensed use, but is heartened by the Commission’s promise to consider developing rules for segments of the range above 95 GHz for exclusive licensing in the future,” 5G Americas said. “Spectrum above 95 GHz will play an important role in enabling innovators to develop new technologies. 5G Americas accordingly supports the Commission proposing rules for licensed access to band segments as soon as possible.” Commissioners approved the order 5-0 in March (see 1903150054). Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said then he would have preferred an order providing some licensed use of the very high-band spectrum. The letter was posted Tuesday in docket 18-21.

Citing the U.S. "race to 5G," Incompas wants the FCC to "deny USTelecom’s petition" on unbundled network elements forbearance (see 1905060025), Incompas CEO Chip Pickering and a representative from Allstream told Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. "Networks being built using unbundled network elements as a bridge to fiber support 5G, in addition to gigabit-speed broadband service to small businesses and residential users," Incompas wrote, posted Tuesday in dockets including 18-141. It said companies using UNEs as such a bridge "are building more fiber in the areas they operate than either the incumbent or cable." A USTelecom spokesperson emailed Wednesday that its senior vice president-advocacy and regulatory affairs “Patrick Halley’s most recent blog and filing on Monday reinforces the policy rationale and facts supporting USTelecom’s UNE forbearance petition.” Wednesday, Allstream owner Zayo agreed to be taken private (see 1905080021).

"There's no secret sauce" for how the satellite industry could play a bigger role in 5G standards setting, aside from committing resources, said Balazs Bertenyi, 3rd Generation Partnership Project TSG Radio Access Network chairman. If satellite doesn't play a role, the risk is further marginalization, said Antonio Franchi, European Space Agency head-future programmes acquisition, at the Satellite 2019 show Monday. Some satellite interests said the industry likely will be end-to-end integrated with 5G standards. Inmarsat Global Principal System Engineer Ammar Khan said "it's not a straightforward task." He said terrestrial 5G is deploying in phases, focusing on broadband first, with IoT and machine to machine to follow, and a phased approach would make sense for satellite. "Five years ago, [such integration] was unimaginable," Bertenyi said, saying such integration is welcome news for the mobile industry since mobile use cases alone won't be enough to make 5G a success.The big changes coming to the satellite industry include software defined hardware that can be reprogrammed in orbit, even to the point of changing the satellite's mission, said Lisa Callahan, Lockheed Martin general manager-commercial civil space. Industry officials said that future will require increased cybersecurity. IBM Watson Cloud Chief Technology Officer-partner ecosystem and cognitive security Jeb Linton said satellites are a particular security challenge because a bad actor could disable one permanently, so there's a particular need for advanced security technology not commonly employed today such as secure enclaves and advanced cryptographic capabilities.

Creating a national, government-sponsored wholesale 5G network makes no sense and wouldn’t work, blogged FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly Tuesday. President Donald Trump last month opposed a government-backed network in favor of private industry investment (see 1904120065). “This entire effort seems convoluted and borders on the preposterous,” O’Rielly said: “Just the notion of the U.S. moving away from the highly-successful, private-sector led approach that is responsible for our country’s premier position globally would be a serious misstep. In essence, it would throw a monkey wrench into one of the greatest success stories in the history of technology.” Among the problems with such a network is no spectrum band is available, he said. “In an ever-increasingly wireless world, each megahertz is being strenuously fought over,” he said: There's also “no way to require any provider to use a wholesale wireless network. Without a mandate, it means that any use will have to be completely voluntary.” The government also would have difficulty finding tower companies that could build the network and it would provide no guarantees of security, O’Rielly said. “For those worried about the communist Chinese government’s influence and resulting harmful effects, it is nearly impossible to see how hamstringing the U.S. market with a government-sponsored network will convince other countries to take similar action,” he said: “Shooting oneself in the foot rarely leads others to do the same.”

Smartphone users report a willingness to pay a 20 percent premium for 5G, and half of early adopters would pay as much as 32 percent more, Ericsson ConsumerLab reported: “One in five smartphone users’ data consumption could reach more than 200GB per month on a 5G device by 2025.” The lab said current use patterns can’t be used to predict future 5G demand. The report is based 35,000 interviews with smartphone users, 15-69, in 22 countries. “Such is the uncertainty that some believe 4G technology is already more than capable of doing everything consumers demand,” the gearmaker said: “This has led analysts and commentators to warn that consumers are unlikely to pay a premium to access a service they don't need. These presumptions seem to have rubbed off on operators.”