Comments are due April 7, replies May 8, on a November Further NPRM on taking next steps to further clamp down on gear from companies on the FCC’s covered list, said a notice for Wednesday’s Federal Register. The notice seeking comment on extending the FCC authorization ban to components of covered equipment and on revoking previous authorizations of covered equipment (see 2211230065). Filings should be made in dockets 21-232 or 21-233. “In seeking comment on component parts, the Commission notes at the outset that it believes that certain component parts produced by entities identified on the Covered List, if included in finished products, could potentially pose an unacceptable national security risk, similar to the security risk posed by the ‘covered’ equipment that the Commission is now prohibiting from authorization,” the notice said.

The European Commission will put the "final nail in the coffin of competition" if its proposed gigabit connectivity recommendation is accepted, said Luc Hindryckx, European Competitive Telecommunications Association director general, in an interview. The recommendation is part of a package of measures unveiled Feb. 23, which also includes a Gigabit Infrastructure Act and a questionnaire on the future of Europe's electronic communications sector (see 2302230001). If approved, Hindryckx said, the recommendation "will irreversibly damage the pro-competitive and pro-consumer principles established in the long-standing European electronic communications framework." Under that framework, national telecom regulatory authorities who find a network operator has significant market power must impose specific rules on them to ensure competition. The EC, however, wants to boost the revenue of ex-monopolies such as Deutsche Telekom and Orange, which continue to dominate national markets, he said. The theory underlining the draft recommendation is that deregulating dominant players and allowing them to increase the wholesale prices they charge alternative telcos would motivate them to invest in very high-capacity networks (VHCN), he said. The proposal, however, ignores that challengers also have incentives to invest and that competition is the main driver of investments in VHCN: The less competition, the less investment. Other concerns, Hindryckx said, are: (1) A recommendation can be adopted quickly because it doesn't require approval by the European Parliament and Council. (2) The draft undemocratically overrules some aspects of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC), legislation that required approval from the Parliament and Council. (3) Increasing wholesale charges will hike retail prices, fueling inflation. The recommendation should seek to harmonize the way regulatory authorities apply the EECC but, as written, it will discourage them from adopting pro-competitive measures to avoid confrontation with the EC, blogged telecom consultant Innocenzo Genna Friday. If in a given market there may be "prospects" of infrastructure competition, the regulator will be forced to let its guard down, he said. That will make access to infrastructure more difficult, with prices no longer cost-oriented. "All of this is referred to as 'flexibility,' a euphemism that actually translates as: no more competition." Big telcos, on the other hand, said the recommendation is too regulation-heavy. Rules for the fiber era should be different from those for the copper era, but the draft "still excessively relies on disproportionate regulatory intervention, as opposed to much needed incentives and cost recovery reflecting the business risk of network deployment," said the European Telecommunications Network Operators Association.

The kind of “digital cooperation” facilitated by the ITU is “needed now more than ever before,” new ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin’s told Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Monday. “I strongly believe that we can’t separate people from technology,” she said. Bogdan-Martin said it remains unclear whether the world will meet the U.N.’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) (see 1702280042): Under the worst-case scenario, “we fail to rescue the SDGs, development is stalled, or it’s going backwards, the climate crisis has overwhelmed us, and mistrust is rampant in terms of technology. Gender equality is a distant dream, and more and more people actually question the very value of connectivity.” What can we do to challenge the status quo? she asked. Finite resources like spectrum and associated satellite orbits “are the building blocks of our advanced global communications system, for all humanity,” she said. They need to be shared “equitably, responsibly, while avoiding harmful interference.” The world needs to “speak the same language” and “reach consensus on global technology standards,” she said. The ITU vision for 6G for 2030 and beyond will be completed later this year and will make energy efficiency and environmental sustainability part of the technical specifications for the first time, she said. She also supports more partnerships to bring down the cost of connectivity. Bogdan-Martin urged the wireless industry to unite behind the SDGs “because failure is not an option.” She said when she spoke with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres a few weeks ago “he stressed the importance of digital technologies and how ITU can be a pioneer.” There “are risks, and those risks are growing, but I ask, what are the risks if we do nothing?” Bogdan-Martin asked.

A new satellite network will ensure secure communications for EU government bodies, emergency services and EU delegations globally after the European Parliament approved the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite constellation. Europe's first multi-orbital satellite constellation has a budget of 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) and will be operational in 2024. It will "ensure the EU's strategic autonomy in the field of secure government communications, in a context where cyber security threats are becoming increasingly important, especially following Russia's war against Ukraine," Parliament said Tuesday. Its negotiations with governments resulted in stronger environmental and sustainability provisions that reduce space debris proliferation and light pollution and require carbon footprint compensation to offset emissions. The agreement now needs final approval from administrations.

With 6G standards likely to start rolling out around 2025, now is the time for international collaboration on what the technology will look like and what its use cases will be, speakers said at a Tuesday Centre for European Policy Studies webinar on Japan-EU cooperation in 5G/6G and future connectivity. The EU and Japan signed a digital partnership in May and are discussing what they want to accomplish in technological terms in 2024, said Bernard Barani, European Commission DG Connect deputy head future connectivity systems unit. 6G is expected to arrive in the 2030s, said University of Tokyo professor Akihiro Nakao, who chairs Japan's International Committee of Beyond5G Promotion Consortium: In 2025, 3rd Generation Partnership Project standards will begin to embody what 6G will be in the real world. Asked how the two regions will put flesh on the bones of their partnership, Barani said the idea was to exchange views on future systems via structured dialogues, regular meetings at the ITU and as part of the EC's 2024 work program. Nakao said there's a need for industry and government funding and creating an EU-Japan flagship project to spur investment.The EU's 6G Hexa-X flagship program has already defined 23 use cases clustered into five families, Barani said: Robots and cobots; telepresence; massive twinning of the physical and digital worlds; local trust zones; and sustainable development. Japan set out seven directions for technologies it wants to achieve in the 2030s, said Nakao. It first wants to extend 5G capacities to ultra-fast and large capacities, ultra-low latency and ultra-numerous connections, and then add four value-added features for 6G: Ultra-low-power consumption; ultra-security and resilience; autonomy among devices without manual intervention, and scalability via seamless connections over satellites and High-Altitude Platform Stations. Asked whether spectrum for 6G will be an issue, Barani said it will be necessary to move to higher frequency bands for very accurate positioning and sensing. Those bands also provide a huge capacity, which will be needed for digital twinning. International coordination on how to use the high-frequency bands is important, Nakao said. Asked about the security of open radio access from high-risk vendors, he said ORAN is like taking the mobile network to pieces like Lego blocks. Pieces provided by one vendor can easily be replaced by those from another as long as the interfaces are clearly defined. Interoperability testing, however, is a challenge because the network has so many parts. Japan launched a testing center for interoperability security, he said.

Ukrainian and European telcos extended a pact giving refugees connectivity while they live in EU countries. The voluntary agreement allows over 4 million people to access roaming without surcharges and affordable international calls, the European Commission said. Telcos agreed to extend the plan for six months, broaden it to cover calls to fixed line numbers in Ukraine and ensure sustainable inter-operator prices. Seven Ukrainian and 20 European operators signed the joint statement, which is open to all telcos "willing to sign in an expression of solidarity with the people of Ukraine." Separately, European Council President Charles Michel, EC President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted in a Feb. 3 statement that the EU "reconfirmed its solidarity with Ukraine in countering hybrid threats and cyberattacks" and "acknowledged the importance of strengthening cooperation in tackling Russian state-controlled information manipulation and interference, including disinformation, as well as building resilience in Ukraine's digital transformation."

The Biden administration shouldn’t block U.S. companies from providing supplies to China’s Huawei by tightening export controls, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said Tuesday. Various news outlets, citing unnamed sources, report the administration is considering that. The White House didn't comment. “The administration’s ongoing efforts to bolster U.S. technology competitiveness have been commendable, but fully cutting off Huawei from U.S. suppliers would likely have the opposite effect,” said Stephen Ezell, ITIF vice president-global innovation policy. “Huawei technologies are already banned from U.S. telecommunications networks, which undercuts the national security rationale for cutting it off” and “there is a strong economic rationale not to cut off Huawei,” he said. China is a critical market for U.S. technology vendors, accounting for 36% of U.S. semiconductor sales as recently as 2019, Ezell said: “Every dollar a U.S. technology company earns in the Chinese market is one that Chinese competitors don’t earn, so banning exports to Huawei helps Chinese technology suppliers and hurts their U.S. counterparts.”

Nokia expects its mobile business to drive growth this year, CEO Pekka Lundmark said Thursday as the company released Q4 results. Nokia’s mobile business unit had 3% growth over last year, though operating margins declined. “As we look into 2023, even as some developed markets, like North America, mature, other markets, like India, are just starting to ramp up,” Lundmark said during an investor presentation: “We see the addressable markets for mobile networks continuing to grow. With the recent deals won, we believe we are in a strong position to outperform the market.”

UPM Telecom expects to file by mid-February at the FCC a Communications Act Section 208 complaint, summarizing its counterclaims against Digicel Haiti, said a joint status report Tuesday (docket 3:15-cv-00185) at the U.S. District Court for Oregon in Portland. The court stayed UPM's counterclaims for FCC review in October as Digicel’s fraud case against UPM progressed to a jury trial. Central to UPM’s counterclaims for the FCC to determine, say court papers, is whether Digicel, as a foreign telecommunications carrier, offered a common-carrier service to UPM that was subject to provisions of the Communications Act. If so, say the court papers, the FCC needs to determine whether Digicel’s termination of that service due to fraud constitutes an unjust and unreasonable practice and amounts to unreasonable discrimination under the statute. Digicel’s answer to UPM’s complaint will be due 30 days after filing, and UPM’s reply will be due 10 days after that, said the joint status report. An eight-member jury, deliberating for a day after a six-day trial, awarded Digicel $3.6 million in damages in November after finding UPM liable for running a “bypass” scheme that defrauded the Haitian mobile communications network provider and deprived it of the proper termination fees (see 2211220049).

GSMA expects about 80,000 to attend the Mobile World Congress, which starts Feb. 27 in Barcelona, with more than 2,000 exhibitors and sponsors, officials said Thursday during a virtual news conference. That’s up from about 61,000 last year. Top officials with U.S. carriers aren't among the keynote speakers posted by GSMA.