Year: 2020
Huawei’s “resilient” Q1-2020 results and coronavirus commentary
Undaunted by the U.S. campaign to ban its network equipment and smart phones, Huawei reported results for the first quarter 2020 that were in line with expectations, despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The company said its business is continuing to grow, albeit at a slower pace.
Revenue in the first quarter rose by about 1% to 182.2 billion yuan ($25.72 billion), vemart phones, China tech giant rsus a 39% growth posted a year ago. Its net profit margin over the period narrowed to 7.3% from about 8% a year ago. Huawei being a privately owned company did not disclose its net profits.
“The growth rate has slowed, but this is also a resilient performance in the face of both the entity list and the coronavirus we are facing at this moment,” Vice President Victor Zhang said in a statement on Tuesday.
This represents a significant slowdown from the 19 percent sales growth for 2019. The company earlier stated that 2020 would be a very difficult year, its first full year with U.S. sanctions. Along with the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, 2020 “will be the most difficult year” for Huawei, rotating chairman Eric Xu said.
As for the impact from the coronavirus pandemic, Zhang said it was difficult to gauge what that would be in the short or long term, as he presented the results from London rather than Huawei’s Shenzen base to mark 20 years of business in Europe.
The company provided enlightening comments on the coronavirus in its earlier referenced statement:
Networks are a lifeline for people from all walks of life during this public health crisis, so ensuring normal network operations is of paramount importance. Huawei is doing everything in its capabilities to help carriers ensure stable and secure network operations. Together, we are working to meet the network demand created by social distancing as people switch to telecommuting, distance education, and e-commerce for daily necessities.
Since the outbreak, Huawei and its partners have rapidly launched many 5G- and AI-powered medical applications. We are using our expertise in communications technologies to help fight the pandemic and save more lives. The AI-assisted coronavirus diagnosis solution cuts CT scan review times from 12 minutes down to 2, helping doctors improve their diagnostic efficiency. 5G-enabled remote video consultation helps mitigate shortages of frontline experts and increases the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment of critical patients. AI-powered thermal imaging devices can take temperatures, increasing the efficiency of infection prevention and control in public places. In addition, Huawei has been doing its best to get masks, test kits, and other protective supplies to the countries and organizations that need them.
A seed that survives the storm will sprout and then blossom. Even though it is impossible to know when the tides of this pandemic will turn, we at Huawei believe that this challenge will be overcome by standing together.
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In March, Huawei reported financial results for 2019, recording a $12 billion revenue shortfall that it attributed to the entity listing, which effectively blacklisted Huawei and numerous affiliates by restricting sales of certain products from U.S. suppliers to the vendor.
Huawei’s consumer segment was particularly hit by the U.S restrictions in the second half of last year. As one of the world’s largest smartphone makers, Huawei was unable to access Google’s proprietary Android operating system and was forced to launch new devices without access to the popular Google Play store.
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References:
https://www.huawei.com/en/press-events/news/2020/4/huawei-announces-q1-2020-business-results
China Mobile says COVID-19 effected Q1 2020 Results: Loss of 4M 4G subs, 31.7M 5G subs
China Mobile’s first quarter 2020 earnings report was somewhat disappointing, save for 5G. Revenues, earnings and profits all decreased for the first quarter as the world’s largest mobile operator felt the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China.
The state owned telco lost 4 million customers which is < 1/2% of their customer base in the first quarter. There were 946 million total China Mobile subscribers at the end of March 2020.
Revenues fell 2%, to 181.3 billion Chinese yuan (US$25.6 billion), compared with the year-earlier period, while revenue from telecommunications services was RMB168.9 billion, up by 1.8% over the same period last year. Profit attributable to equity shareholders was RMB23.5 billion ($3.3 billion), down by 0.8% over the same period last year.
The company (referred to as “the Group”) addressed the impact of COVID-19 in their Q1 2020 earnings report:
COVID-19 posed an impact on the overall society and economy in the first quarter of 2020. The Group’s business development was no exception. In light of COVID-19, the Group has introduced “three safeguards” which endeavoured to provide reliable communications, maintain service continuity and step up comprehensive prevention and control measures. Leveraging the demand for informatization services brought about by measures to prevent and control COVID-19 and the resumption of work and production, the Group has also accelerated business transformation and upgrade.
The Group’s total number of mobile customers was around 946 million as at 31 March 2020. Among them, the numbers of 4G customers and 5G package customers were 752 million and 31.72 million, respectively. During the first quarter of the year, data traffic business maintained growth momentum with handset data traffic recording a year-on-year increase of 43.4% and handset data DOU (average handset data traffic per user per month) reaching 8.3GB. Total voice usage declined by 16.3% year on-year to 661.4 billion minutes, which was attributable to OTT substitution and COVID-19.
Buoyed by the rapid growth of corporate SMS, total SMS usage rose by 45.4% year-on-year. Mobile ARPU dropped by 6.7% year-on-year to RMB46.9 for the first quarter of the year and the decline rate has moderated compared to that of the previous year. As at 31 March 2020, the total number of wireline broadband customers was 191 million, with a net increase of 4.10 million for the first quarter of the year. Wireline broadband ARPU amounted to RMB31.3.
Amidst COVID-19, the Group’s telecommunications services revenue grew by 1.8% year on-year to RMB168.9 billion for the first quarter of 2020. Currently, measures to prevent and control COVID-19 are still underway and some impact may carry over.
The Group will continue to foster business transformation and upgrade and make an all-out effort to promote the coordinated development of the CHBN four major markets. It will also continue to optimize its revenue structure and strive to maintain growth in telecommunications services revenue for the full-year of 2020. The Group’s revenue from the sales of products and others went down by 34.9% year-on year to RMB12.4 billion for the first quarter of the year. The decline was mainly caused by contracted sales of handsets and IoT devices, amongst other products, due to COVID-19.
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The figures seem to vindicate arguments that China Mobile will prove fairly resilient to COVID-19 as a critical lifeline to the wider world for people under lockdown/ shelter in place orders. While customer numbers fell in mobile, there was no decline at China Mobile’s fixed-line business, which picked up another 4 million broadband customers to finish March with 191 million in total. On the mobile side, usage of traditional voice services fell from 278 minutes per user each month in the final quarter of 2019 to just 234 minutes in the first quarter of 2020. Mobile data usage, though, rose from 7.1 to 8.3 gigabytes per month over the same period.
Largely due to China government incentives, China Mobile now claims nearly 32 million 5G customers, up from just 2.6 million in December 2019. Sustain that rate of growth and the operator would be on course for almost 120 million 5G customers by the end of this year. That may be difficult once China Mobile has attracted all the early 5G adopters. It will be interesting to see how soon the major improvements brought by 3GPP Release 16 (scheduled to be frozen in early July 2020) will be implemented by the Group’s network equipment vendors- principally Huawei and ZTE.
Key Insights From Bloomberg:
- The carrier, which has more than 940 million subscribers, may benefit in the months ahead as economic activity begins to return toward normal. The expansion of 5G coverage planned this year may also help lure subscribers to higher priced heavy-data plans.
- While the company is spending to expand 5G networks, it has also been maintaining dividend levels and had cash and bank deposits of about 317 billion yuan as of the end of last year.
- Attracting 5G subscribers is a key for growth as those users tend to spend more per month. The company had about 31.7 million 5G subscribers as of the end of March.
- While total subscribers fell in the first quarter, the carrier benefited from a slight rise in average revenue per user from the previous quarter as the introduction of 5G networks made it easier for users to play richer video games and use applications that consume more data.
Iian Morris, International Editor at Lightreading wrote in a blog post:
A challenge for the Group is to meet the investments required for 5G infrastructure. China Mobile has earmarked RMB100 billion ($14.1 billion) for capital expenditure on 5G in 2020, an increase of 317% on what it spent in 2019, according to market-research firm Omdia (owned by market research goliath Informa). Its plan is to add at least 250,000 5G base stations by the end of this year.
Meeting this commitment will be difficult as earnings and cash flow are squeezed by COVID-19. Just-published figures show that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization fell nearly 6% in the first quarter, to RMB68.5 billion ($9.7 billion), compared with the year-earlier period. Under government pressure to hit deployment targets, China Mobile may look to reduce costs in other parts of the business to offset the increase in spending on 5G. “The group will continue to develop new sources of revenue and identify ways to curtail expenses, while taking measures to reduce costs and enhance efficiency,” it says in its statement.
Hacking into headcount will be difficult if China Mobile is to avoid disruption to 5G buildout and sales and marketing activities. Nevertheless, the operator may be able to realize some cost savings through pruning of a workforce that numbered as many as 456,239 employees at the end of last year. While major US operators have slashed tens of thousands of roles in recent years, China Mobile seems to have been a lot more cautious on the jobs side: Its staff numbers have fallen less than 1% since the end of 2016.
The latest update on 5G will be a further concern for US officials already worried about falling behind China in the development and rollout of the new network technology. With at least 30 million 5G customers, China already has enough users of the service to spur the development of new commercial applications that might not be feasible in the old 4G world. That is exactly what the US does not want to hear.
References:
Ofcom EMF measurement results show 5G radiation well within safety limits/not harmful!
UK regulator Ofcom has published the latest spectrum measurement program results, including six additional 5G mobile sites. Ofcom initially published the results of electromagentic field (EMF) measurements at 16 UK sites following the launch of 5G in 2019. The latest report shows EMF levels at a total of 22 5G sites across 10 UK cities. In particular, Ofcom carried out measurements close to known 5G-enabled mobile phone base stations in 22 locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The base stations Ofcom visited all support a range of mobile technologies in addition to 5G, including 2G, 3G and 4G. In all locations, the largest contribution to the measured levels comes from previous generations of mobile technology (2G, 3G, 4G).
The results show that emissions at every site were a small fraction of the levels included in international guidelines set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The highest EMF measurement from 5G signals reached just 0.039 percent of the maximum reference level specified in the guidelines.
The measurements show some variation between the exposure levels measured at each location. This is likely to be due, at least in part, to differences in the position of the measurement probe relative to the base station at each location. Ofcom took all measurements in publicly accessible areas, and these areas were at varying distances to the mobile phone base station serving the area. In all cases however, the UK regulator sought to take measurements at locations with the highest signal strength near the base station.
‘Every device that communicates wirelessly needs spectrum – such as televisions, car key fobs, baby monitors, wireless microphones and satellites. Mobile phones use spectrum to connect to masts so people can make calls and access the internet.’ ‘Following the launch of 5G in the UK last year, we published the results of electromagnetic field (EMF) measurements at 16 UK sites, in February. We have continued to test since then and have now published an updated measurement report, which looks at 22 5G sites in 10 UK cities. ‘At every site, emissions were a small fraction of the levels included in international guidelines. These guidelines are set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).
The deployment of 5G networks and the take-up of 5G services in the UK is still at an early stage. Ofcom will therefore continue to undertake EMF measurements to monitor the overall trends in the long term. This will include repeat measurements at a number of the locations which we have already visited as well as measurements in new areas.
Ofcom said it will continue to publish the results of these measurements on their website as they become available.
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AJW Comment:
These results should surely debunk the outrageous and unproven claims that 5G radiation is harmful to humans. Many similar measurements showing 5G emissions are not harmful have been ignored by anti-5G health evangelists.
References:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/190005/emf-test-summary.pdf
Ofcom destroys 5G conspiracy theory with blunt reality check
Dish’s 5G network plan may be delayed for years as a result of COVID-19
In August 2019, Dish Network Corporation agreed to pay $3.6 billion for spectrum and $1.4 billion for Sprint’s prepaid business, which serves 9.3 million customers nationwide. The wholesale agreement and prepaid divestitures would let Dish become a reseller in the near term, offering service to consumers over the T-Mobile/Sprint network. Upon completion of the Sprint/T-Mobile merger, Dish was to acquire 14 MHz of Sprint’s nationwide 800 MHz spectrum.
Dish also committed to building a 5G network as a precondition of T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint. Dish said its 5G network would cover 20% of the US population by 2022 and 70% by mid-2023. At the time, Dish founder and CEO Charlie Ergen stated that not building the 5G network would amount to “financial suicide, and we’re not suicidal.”
However, as the coronavirus pandemic sends tremors through the U.S. economy, Dish faces a hostile operating environment: the company continues to shed subscribers from its pay-TV business (which is now suffering from the loss of live sports); big banks have pulled back on loans; and Dish decided to cut staff to help weather the economic fallout of the pandemic.
The New York Post earlier reported that Ergen’s plans to build the country’s fourth nationwide wireless network by 2023 were being thrown into doubt, quoting a source saying there is no financing to build a new 5G wireless network.
Business Insider spoke with the president and CEO of NATE, Todd Schlekeway, who elaborated on the biggest challenges that the coronavirus poses for tower technicians:
“Number one: The PPE [Personal Protective Equipment] that they need is becoming very difficult to obtain from not only their normal supply channels, but [even] trying to go outside of those has been very difficult. Number two: Access to restaurants hasn’t been too big of an issue because a lot of places have drive-throughs, but some companies have narrowed their scope geographically during this pandemic … due to [limited access to] hotels. [This allows] their tower crews and their techs to come home every night, whereas before they may have been on the road a whole week. The logistics of sending a crew on the road is harder now because restrictions could be different between jurisdictions.”
These challenges will likely slow down and increase the costs of Dish’s plan to deploy 10,000 sites for its 5G network by 2022. Given Dish’s already questionable $10-billion budget for a complete network build-out, it appears improbable that Dish will reach its ambitious network build-out targets.
Though Dish will be hit hardest by the logistical challenges of performing telecom field work during the pandemic, we expect the impacts will be felt by the industry at large. Dish is in a particularly challenging position, as it must build a network from scratch in order to compete as a network operator once its seven-year MVNO deal with T-Mobile expires.
But the big three U.S. wireless carriers likewise have ambitious 5G network build-out plans. For example, the New T-Mobile intends to cover 99% of the U.S. with 5G within six years, as part of a plan that includes 10,000 new towers and 40,000 additional small cells.
As long as quarantine measures remain in effect, it will be more difficult for network operators to carry out extensive network upgrades. This presents a greater threat to the business strategies of would-be telco disruptors, as incumbents can fall back on their existing network capacity which doesn’t exist for the upstart wireless carriers like Dish.
Is Dish’s 5G network plan a pipe dream? NY Post infers it is:
NY Post composite photo
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References:
https://www.businessinsider.com/dish-faces-challenges-with-5g-build-out-amid-coronavirus-2020-4
https://nypost.com/2020/04/12/ergens-wireless-network-plans-dim-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/
Details on Apple-Google Digital Contact Tracing System using Bluetooth technology
On Friday, Apple and Google announced they will work together on a digital contact tracing system that would use Bluetooth technology to alert users when they’ve been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19. In essence, the companies are creating a digital contact tracing system powered by a network of smartphones to better help the public understand when they may have been exposed to the virus. The system will enable both iPhones and Android devices to anonymously broadcast signals to other nearby devices using Bluetooth and scan for beacons from other phones in proximity. The two mobile phone operating system competitors are releasing APIs supporting Bluetooth and cryptography on smartphones running the iOS and Android systems. The goal is to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the coronavirus. According to a joint statement, user privacy and security are “central to the design.”
Through this technology, Apple and Google aim to implement a system that would enable your smartphone to notify you if you’ve recently been in contact with a potentially contagious coronavirus person, while trying to avoid compromising user privacy. The system is opt-in only, meaning users must give their explicit consent and choose to participate in the program. Both companies say the system was designed with privacy in mind.
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Contact tracing—tracking who has a disease and who they’ve been near in order to limit the spread of an outbreak—is a crucial tool in fighting diseases, including covid-19. But it’s traditionally a very human job that involves talking to people, detailing their movements, and making a lot of phone calls. Now the question is whether technology can do the job even faster, and without violating people’s privacy, security, and liberty. Will the Applie-Google contact tracking system work?
- Apple earlier partnered with the U.S. government on an app to help people recognize Covid-19 symptoms and find help if needed.
- Google has been active providing its location data to help governments track the effectiveness of confinement measures.
Many countries are now looking to develop contact tracing apps to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. A Bluetooth low energy protocol (BLE) is often used to broadcast the person’s status and alert others to contact. The two largest developers of smart phone and tablet software said they would be launching a “comprehensive solution” that includes APIs and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing.
In May, both companies will release APIs that enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices using apps from public health authorities. These official apps will be available for users to download via their respective app stores.
In the coming months, Apple and Google will work to enable a broader Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform by building this functionality into the underlying platforms. This is a more robust solution than an API and would allow more individuals to participate, if they choose to opt in, as well as enable interaction with a broader ecosystem of apps and government health authorities. To encourage transparency and privacy in the apps, the companies pledged to to publish information about the work and work with interested stakeholders on developing the technology.
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As part of this partnership, Google and Apple are releasing initial draft technical documentation including Bluetooth and cryptography specifications and framework documentation.
For a closer look about what you need to know about Apple and Google’s contact tracing system, please read this Business Insider article.
The Verge attempts to answer the 12 biggest questions related to the Apple-Google joint contact tracing system in this post.
Image Credit: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
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References:
https://www.apple.com/covid19/contacttracing/
Q&A: Apple and Google discuss their coronavirus tracing efforts
Samsung achieves 5G mmWave speeds of 8.5 Gbps using MIMO over 1K antenna elements
Samsung Electronics claims it achieved the industry’s fastest 5G speeds in a lab demonstration that used carrier aggregation to combine multiple channels of mmWave spectrum into 800 MHz. The trial used the Samsung 5G mmWave access unit that combines the traditional baseband, radio and antenna.
Using two test mobile devices, the demonstration achieved approximately 4.3Gbps speeds on each, reaching an industry peak speed of 8.5Gbps across both devices. In order to achieve the speed, two key technologies were used: carrier aggregation and MU-MIMO. Samsung’s 5G NR mmWave Access Unit uses MIMO technology with over 1,000 antenna elements in a single unit. It was announced at MWC-LA-2019.
Samsung’s 5G New Radio (NR) Access Unit (AU) supporting 28GHz spectrum
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Earlier this year, Samsung participated in a 5G trial with Verizon, using a commercial network cell site in Texas. In that trial, Verizon aggregated 800 MHz of 28 GHz band spectrum using Samsung’s 5G NR access unit. However, the parties didn’t specify how much traffic the site was handling. It likely wasn’t handling too much commercial traffic, given the scarcity of 5G handsets in use by consumers. Verizon said it has commercially deployed the Samsung 5G NR access unit in its 5G network.
Samsung says that the wide bandwidth from mmWave spectrum enables mobile operators to provide multi-gigabit speeds that lower band spectrums are unable to match. With multi-gigabit speeds, users can experience transformational 5G mobile services. Mobile operators will be able to deliver new and rich services such as 8K video streaming, AR remote learning and holistic VR teleconferencing as well as new use cases that are yet to be imagined.
Today, a number of countries – including Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. – have already assigned 5G mmWave spectrum, and two of them have already launched their commercial 5G services using the spectrum. Also, more than 15 nations are expected to join the 5G mmWave club in the coming years.
“Samsung will continue to be at the forefront in advancing 5G mmWave technology,” said Hyunho Park, Senior Vice President, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “This successful demonstration proves mmWave’s potential to deliver new kinds of business use cases and open up opportunities for mobile operators. We look forward to building on this significant technical breakthrough to fuel our continuous journey towards an innovative and vibrant mmWave ecosystem.”
Samsung has been supporting 5G commercial services in leading markets, including Korea and the U.S., currently two of the largest commercial deployments in 5G subscriber count. It is now also actively supporting the commercial deployment of 5G in Japan. Finally, Samsung is also expanding its global 5G market footprint rapidly to new markets including Canada and New Zealand.
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References:
https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/samsung-achieves-5g-mmwave-speeds-8-5-gbps-across-2-devices
Windstream Wholesale and Infinera Complete Successful Trial of LR8-Based 400GbE Client-Side Services
“Our customers’ bandwidth requirements are growing rapidly, and Windstream is increasing network capacity to meet this demand,” said Buddy Bayer, chief network officer at Windstream. “Infinera’s GX G30 Compact Modular Platform provides an ultra-efficient transport solution enabling us to offer 400GbE services to support our customers’ high-bandwidth needs. The use of LR8 clients with a single mode fiber interface and a 10-kilometer reach provides an extremely cost-effective solution by enabling us to extend these services directly to our customers’ premises.”
Windstream Wholesale is currently engaging with customers for initial deployment of the end-to-end 400G Wave service. For more information on how you can bring 400G Wave services to your company, call 1-866-375-6040.
To view the Windstream network map, visit https://www.windstreamenterprise.com/wholesale/interactive-map/.
About Windstream
Windstream Holdings, Inc., a FORTUNE 500 company, is a leading provider of advanced network communications and technology solutions. Windstream provides data networking, core transport, security, unified communications and managed services to mid-market, enterprise and wholesale customers across the U.S. The company also offers broadband, entertainment and security services for consumers and small and medium-sized businesses primarily in rural areas in 18 states. Services are delivered over multiple network platforms including a nationwide IP network, our proprietary cloud core architecture and on a local and long-haul fiber network spanning approximately 150,000 miles. Additional information is available at windstream.com or https://www.windstreamenterprise.com/wholesale/. Please visit our newsroom at news.windstream.com or follow us on Twitter at @Windstream.
About Infinera
Infinera is a global supplier of innovative networking solutions that enable carriers, cloud operators, governments, and enterprises to scale network bandwidth, accelerate service innovation, and automate network operations. The Infinera end-to-end packet optical portfolio delivers industry-leading economics and performance in long-haul, submarine, data center interconnect, and metro transport applications. To learn more about Infinera, visit www.infinera.com, follow us on Twitter @Infinera, and read our latest blog posts at www.infinera.com/blog.
Windstream Media Contact
Scott Morris, 501-748-5342
[email protected]
Infinera Media Contact
Anna Vue, (916) 595-8157
[email protected]
Source: Windstream Holdings, Inc.
Reference:
Waveform Survey: Consumers Unexcited and Unsure of 5G’s Benefits
Executive Summary:
Americans do not appear to fully comprehend the ultra overhyped and mostly false claimed benefits of 5G (like ultra low latency, e.g <=1 msec in data plane and <=10 msec in control plane) and ultra high reliability which haven’t been specified yet, let alone standardized or implemented.
In fact, only one-third (32.8%) of U.S. consumers “very clearly” or “extremely clearly” understood how they would benefit from 5G, according to this new Waveform survey.
Methodology: Waveform commissioned SurveyMonkey to poll 1,065 adult Americans online on March 30. To provide a wider sample of the US population, the online survey company utilized its age- and gender-normalized panel. Measures were taken to organize a sample representative of the overall population. The company reports a 3% confidence interval of its results excluding a noted exception in which the survey included only a respondent subset.
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Highlights of Waveform’s Report related to 5G:
- Many consumers still aren’t sure of the benefits of 5G
- Despite heavy 5G marketing, only 32.8% of consumers said they understand the benefits of 5G very clearly. This is an increase over the last time we asked this question in October 2018, but still represents a minority of users.
- Most consumers aren’t very excited about 5G
- 65.7% of consumers said they weren’t very excited about 5G. There was only a small increase in excitement about 5G compared to the last time we asked this question in October 2018.
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All the major US carriers have been heavily touting their new 5G networks with large advertising campaigns. The advertised major benefits of 5G are lower latency, higher data rates, and greater capacity. But the landscape is extremely confusing, with three different flavors of 5G, each with different levels of improvement over 4G LTE.
Here’s a quick overview of the different versions of 5G offered today by each US carrier:
- AT&T has 3 version of 5G. 5GE (the “E” stands for “evolution”) is just a rebrand of existing 4G LTE and not true 5G at all. AT&T’s 5G refers to 5G technology on their low-band 850 MHz spectrum, which shows slight improvements in performance for users over 4G LTE. Finally there’s AT&T’s 5G Plus, which refers to millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G that is being rolled out in urban areas and offers dramatic increases in data rates
- Verizon has been focused on mmWave 5G, which they call “Ultra Wideband 5G.” Coverage is limited to urban areas, but where coverage exists, it offers huge improvements in speeds.
- T-Mobile is rolling out low-band 5G on their 600 MHz spectrum. This version of 5G offers slight improvements in performance compared to 4G LTE. While T-Mobile have licenses for 5G on mmWave frequency bands, they haven’t started rolling it out yet.
- Sprint, unlike other carriers, hasn’t been rolling out low-band or mmWave 5G. Instead, they’ve been rolling out the new technology on their huge swath of 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum.
Waveform asked customers how clearly they understood the benefits of 5G, and the results showed that the marketing is having at least some effect. Customers understand 5G better than before: 32.8% of respondents said they understand the benefits “very clearly” or “extremely clearly,” compared to 21.2% who reported the same in October 2018.
However, overall, the majority of people have a hazy view of the benefits of 5G. 67.2% of respondents understood 5G “somewhat clearly,” “not so clearly,” or “not at all clearly.” The results are hardly surprising given the alphabet soup of different varieties of 5G. And customer understanding likely hasn’t been helped by AT&T’s marketing-driven decision to rename recent 4G LTE network upgrades as 5GE.
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While US consumers understand the benefits of 5G slightly better than when we asked the same question in 2018, their excitement hasn’t increased in quite the same way.
65.7% of our panel of respondents said that they weren’t “very” or “extremely” excited about 5G. That represents only a small change from our October 2018 poll, when 70.1% said they weren’t “very” or “extremely” excited. Apparently a better understanding of 5G’s benefits hasn’t translated into customer interest.
Breaking the results down by carrier showed a clear divide: T-Mobile and Sprint customers are significantly more excited about 5G than Verizon or AT&T. 43.3% of T-Mobile subscribers and 38.2% of Sprint subscribers were highly excited about 5G, whereas just 29.6% of Verizon subscribers and 34.1% of AT&T subscribers reported the same.
The complete Waveform report is available at:
https://www.waveform.com/pages/5g-and-t-mobile-merger-report-04-20
DoJ: Google to operate undersea cable connecting U.S. and Asia
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it has approved Google’s request to use part of an undersea cable connecting the US and Asia via Taiwan. Google agreed to operate a portion of the 8,000-mile Pacific Light Cable Network System between the US and Taiwan, while avoiding the leg of the system extending to Hong Kong.
Google and Facebook helped pay for construction of the now completed undersea cable, along with a Chinese real estate investor. U.S. regulators had previously expressed national security concerns about the Chinese investor, Beijing-based Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group Co.
Google, Facebook and telecom and undersea infrastructure developer TE SubCom and PLDC (Pacific Light Data Communication Co. Ltd.) are teaming up to build a 120 Terabits per second (Tbps), 12,800 km subsea cable that will connect Los Angeles with Taiwan, but exclude Hong Kong.
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The DoJ granted a six-month authorization for using the cable after Google emphasized “an immediate need to meet internal demand for capacity between the US and Taiwan” and that without the requested temporary authority, it would likely have to seek alternative capacity at “significantly higher prices.”
After discussions with Google representatives, the DoJ concluded that the obligations undertaken by Google would be sufficient to preserve their abilities to enforce the law and protect national security. Under the terms of the security agreement, Google has agreed to a range of operational requirements, notice obligations, access and security guarantees, as well as auditing and reporting duties, among others.
Google also committed to pursuing “diversification of interconnection points in Asia,” as well as to establish network facilities that deliver traffic as close as practicable to its ultimate destination. This reflects the views of the US government that a direct cable connection between the US and Hong Kong “would pose an unacceptable risk to the national security and law enforcement interests of the United States”, the DoJ said.
More information concerning the license application and the US Justice Departments’ response is available here.
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The U.S. government decision to exclude Hong Kong (see Update below) from a trans-Pacific cable was “severe blow” to the city as a telecom hub, a key industry figure said Thursday.
The DOJ said “a direct connection between the U.S. and Hong Kong would pose an unacceptable risk” to national security and law enforcement interests.
Charles Mok, the IT industry representative in the Hong Kong Legislative Council, said the decision was “not a surprise.”
It had been public knowledge for at least six months that the FCC held such views about Hong Kong and was delaying approval of the cable.
More than a month ago, Facebook and Google had amended their applications, excluding Hong Kong and terminating the cable in Taiwan, Mok pointed out.
“It is a severe blow to Hong Kong’s status as a hub for telecommunications and underseas cable in the region,” he said.
“The obvious reasons – behind what the US claims to be concerns over their national interest – must be the widely perceived deterioration of Hong Kong’s One Country Two Systems, rule of law, freedom of information and the media, and the increasing interference from China.
June 18, 2020 Update:
In a press release Wednesday, “Team Telecom” recommended the FCC deny an application to connect the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) subsea cable system between the US and Hong Kong.
FCC commissioners appear poised to accept the recommendation. “I’ll reserve judgment for now, but the detailed filing raises major questions about state influence over Chinese telecoms. In this interconnected world, network security must be paramount,” tweeted Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.
Team Telecom – officially the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector – is an organization created by President Trump in April. It’s chaired by Trump’s attorney general and includes his secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense. As the Department of Justice explained, Team Telecom formalizes a process that has existed for years, but which will “benefit from a transparent and empowered structure.”
References:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-allows-google-internet-project-to-advance-only-if-hong-kong-is-cut-out-11586377674 (on-line subscription required)
China’s big 3 telcos offer 5G Rich Communication Services (RCS)
China’s big three telecom carriers unveiled a new 5G-enabled messaging service on Wednesday, which analysts said is likely to open a new era for social networking.
China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom published a white paper for the 5G messaging service, known as Rich Communication Services, or RCS,. The paper specifies technical details to invite smartphone makers to support the new service.
The 5G RCS messaging service is designed to replace current short messages with a system that is richer, provides phonebook polling, and can transmit in-call multimedia.
5G may facilitate a shift away from basic SMS messaging, ushering in an era of RCS, where mobile messaging can become much more interactive and flexible, more akin to what we now know as iMessaging through platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. RCS will not only facilitate the sharing of GIFs and high-quality videos, but will also more directly interface with the internet; for example, offering a list of available flights when the user sends a message regarding a holiday.
Editor’s Note:
RCS has been talked about and in development for many years, with very little commercial market acceptance to date. RCS’ biggest problem has been that it requires consensus across a large and complex industry. Contrast that with an OTT messaging startup with a dozen staff can create a viral global app overnight. It remains to be see if the collaboration between China’s big three telecom operators will make 5G RCS successful in China.
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With the new 5G RCS message service, consumers won’t have to download a variety of mobile apps. They can directly buy train tickets and book flights by sending messages.
Ma Jihua, an independent telecom analyst, said the new 5G-powered messaging service, if properly promoted, will usher in a new era of social networking, and erode the social networking business of Tencent Holdings Ltd.
A pedestrian walks past a 5G promotion board in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. [Photo by Su Yang/For China Daily]
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China Telecom Vice President Wang Guoquan said the new 5G messaging services would enhance 5G innovation and help turn 5G from “the biggest variable affecting the telecom industry” into the biggest vehicle for growth.
He said China Telecom would work with industry partners “to build a new ecosystem and promote the rapid development of rich media information.”
Besides the three operators, 11 device vendors including Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and Samsung endorsed the new messaging service and promised early support on their handsets. Huawei stated that it would have an RCS-capable phone this June, while Xiaomi has confirmed that all of its new 5G phones will also run the new messaging service.
“Together with ecosystem partners, we will start a new chapter in 5G messaging and further promote RCS applications in China,” said a statement from the three operators releasing the paper.
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GSMA says the key development has been the creation of the universal profile (UP), an industry-agreed set of features intended to simplify RCS product development and deployment.
The Chinese players can also take heart from the positive numbers out of the first two years of the RCS-based +Message service in Japan, supported by all three operators.
User numbers rose 35% to 17.5 million in 2019 and are forecast to hit 40 million in 2021, according to a GSMA-commissioned study.
The number of business messages sent over the platform is expected to reach more than 150 million in 2021 and 1.2 billion in 2023.
What’s more, users appear responsive to the marketing messages. The open rate is 85% in Japan and 75% globally, compared to 3% for direct mail.
Says the GSMA: “+Message also allows Japanese consumers to communicate directly with a range of brands and services, for example allowing them to engage with virtual assistants to book flights, buy goods and make restaurant reservations.”
Worldwide, the GSMA says 88 operators have launched RCS, attracting 403 million users.
Messaging research firm MobileSquared has predicted that RCS will be the world’s biggest business messaging platform by 2021, with 2 billion users. The firm notes that while WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) has 1.5 billion users, it may be difficult to monetize it as a marketing channel because users are required to opt in.
References:
http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202004/08/WS5e8d67aea310aeaeeed50c6a.html
https://www.lightreading.com/asia/china-operators-to-offer-rcs-based-5g-messaging/d/d-id/758762?
https://www.totaltele.com/505475/Chinese-operators-back-RCS-in-new-white-paper