South Korea leads the world in 5G deployment, with Kuwait and Switzerland close behind, reported Omdia Thursday. The researcher studied several metrics, including 5G operator launches, network coverage and subscriber adoption, and ranked South Korea as the “early market leader.” It topped the world with 4.67 million subscribers through December, “which equates to about seven per cent of wireless services in the market,” it said. The U.S. was in fourth place in an accompanying chart.

Attacks against 5G infrastructure and disinformation on health risks (see 2005150022) imperil rollout of services needed to ensure Europe's recovery from the pandemic, speakers said at a Wednesday webinar hosted by GSMA and the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association. 5G is the "missing link" between Europe's digital strategy and its environmental plans, but misinformation risks significantly delaying the deployment, said ETNO Director General Lise Fuhr. There have been about 142 site attacks in 10 EU countries and the U.K., which had the most attacks, said GSMA Head-Europe Afke Schaart. It's not just posting misinformation; it has become more mainstream, with a global 5G protest planned for Saturday, she said. The impact includes some countries postponing spectrum auctions, Schaart said. One way to fight back might be for local politicians to get involved in decisions on deploying 5G, said Member of European Parliament Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and Finland. Local authorities should be given information about the technology so citizens can trust their decisions on installations. She urged governments planning 5G spectrum allocations to focus on coverage rather than revenue to allow operators to build out. Deployment has challenges, said Susana Solis Perez, of the Renew Europe Group and Spain. These include lack of demand for 5G services, environmental issues, electromagnetic frequency (EMF) considerations, network security and the risk of widening the digital divide. There's no time to waste in building infrastructure in response to COVID-19, she said. EU's e-commerce directive is "too weak" to attack disinformation, said Lisa Felton, Vodafone Group head-data, services and consumer regulation. The upcoming EC proposal for a digital services act should include legal requirements for actions online platforms must take in response to disinformation if they don't want to lose safe harbor liability protections, she said. The EC believes public health protection is paramount, and recommends maximum EMF exposure limits with wide safety margins based on scientific data, said Andreas Geiss, DG Connect head of unit-spectrum policy. The EC wants to focus debate on those facts and evidence, seeking to inform people about EMF and the benefits of 5G, he said. There's little evidence RF radiation causes cancer, affects fertility, results in changes to development, cognition or behavior, harms the immune systems or causes electrohypersensitivity, said Frank de Vocht, University of Bristol senior academic in epidemiological and public health. The idea that 5G affects the immune system is the basis for 5G/COVID-19 theories "haunting" social media, but there's no plausible theory on how millimeter waves could do that, he said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is starting Trade Act Section 301 investigations into digital services taxes (DSTs) that were adopted or are under consideration, the agency said Tuesday. Investigations focus on Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, EU, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the U.K. Comments are due July 15. Evidence "suggests the DSTs are expected to target large, U.S.-based tech companies," USTR said. "The European Commission is considering a DST as part of the financing package for its proposed COVID-19 recovery plan." The EU's delegation to the U.S. didn't comment. The "investigation initially will focus on the following concerns with DSTs: discrimination against U.S. companies; retroactivity; and possibly unreasonable tax policy," the USTR said. While the Information Technology Industry Council "hoped to avoid further escalation of tensions, increasingly-expansive unilateral tax measures have necessitated a stronger response,” said CEO Jason Oxman. “ITI continues to support the U.S. government’s efforts to investigate these complex trade issues." Tariffs are a possible result of Section 301 investigations. The agency previously started a Section 301 investigation into France over such taxes and tariffs that were proposed but not implemented (see 1912030002). “An increasing number of countries have proposed or enacted discriminatory and unilateral digital taxes in recent months, despite ongoing [OECD] negotiation," noted Internet Association Director-Trade Policy Jordan Haas. "The U.S. must continue sending a strong message to trading partners that targeted discriminatory taxes against U.S. firms are not an appropriate solution." Instead of "unilateral DSTs, the world needs a multilateral solution," said U.S. Chamber of Commerce Head-International Affairs Myron Brilliant. "The Chamber supports efforts to address these challenges through multilateral negotiations under the aegis of the OECD. We urge all parties to double down on those negotiations.”

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is increasing scrutiny on transactions involving sensitive technologies, trade lawyers said. Companies are facing more CFIUS-related delays and a heavier involvement by political appointees as the Trump administration seeks to put more pressure on China, the lawyers said. Transactions by companies that operate in industries that don’t seem to affect national security are attracting CFIUS attention, said Dechert's Mark Thierfelder, on Friday's webinar hosted by the law firm. “Deals that we might have thought about as being simple from an approval process in prior years seem to be getting an increasingly harder look.” In areas that may be national security risks, companies should expect even more CFIUS scrutiny, especially with critical tech, said Neal Wolin, CEO of Brunswick Group and former CFIUS chair. This is partly due to the administration’s increased focus on tech competition with China and a heightened White House involvement in foreign direct investment matters, Wolin said. “The willingness of the White House to be engaged in and involved in these kinds of conversations … has increased,” he said. “There's a lot of focus and a lot of politics around these kinds of deals, so inevitably the work of the committee gets shaped by that broader political context.” The Treasury Department and the White House didn't comment Monday.

The House voted 284-122 Thursday to request a conference with the Senate over the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act (see 2005270051). The Senate will need to vote to proceed to negotiations. House Democrats earlier Thursday withdrew plans to vote on the underlying bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blamed Republicans for prioritizing politics. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., withdrew consideration of the bill (see 2003110077): “The two-thirds of the Republican party that voted for this bill in March have indicated they are going to vote against it now. I am told they are doing so at the request of the president.” Pelosi noted House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, testified Wednesday in support of the bill. That was hours before President Donald Trump said he would veto the bill, prompting the GOP to withdraw support. Progressives also announced their opposition Wednesday. The office for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., didn’t comment now.

Progressive Democrats Wednesday announced opposition to the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act (see 2005140061) after a Democratic amendment was dropped. The House was expected to vote on the underlying bill Wednesday. Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Pramila Jayapal, Wash., and Mark Pocan, Wis., raised concerns about warrantless online surveillance. Mirroring a measure from Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., an amendment from Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, would have banned warrantless search and browsing history. The Wyden-Daines amendment was narrowly defeated in the Senate. “Despite some positive reforms, the legislation is far too narrow in scope and would still leave the public vulnerable to invasive online spying and data collection,” Jayapal and Pocan said. President Donald Trump urged Republicans to vote no on the bill.

Apple’s iPhone 11, starting at $699, surpassed the iPhone XR ($599) in global shipments in Q1, said Omdia Tuesday (login required). Apple shipped 19.5 million iPhone 11s, outpacing the iPhone XR a year ago by nearly 6 million units, it said. The iPhone 11 has two cameras, a “major upgrade” from the single-lens XR, that’s “extremely appealing” to consumers, said analyst Jusy Hong. Samsung was second with the Galaxy A51, shipping 6.8 million units. Xiaomi took third and fourth with Redmi Note 8 (6.6 million) and Redmi Note 8 Pro (6.1 million units). The three companies had all top 10 models. Among 5G smartphones, Samsung led global shipments with 3.5 million for the S20+ 5G, and came in fourth and fifth with the S20 5G (2.9 million) and S20 Ultra 5G (2.7 million). Huawei finished second and third in 5G shipments. Annual smartphone shipments will shrink this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, slowing the pace of 5G expansion, said Omdia. An exception is China where the smartphone market has been “recovering rapidly” since March.

Amazon announced solar projects in Australia, China, Ohio and Virginia as part of a goal to reach 80% renewable energy by 2024, 100% by 2030, it said Thursday. The five new projects will supply about 615 MW and an expected 1.2 million MWh annually to Amazon’s fulfillment network and Amazon Web Services data centers, it said.

The FCC International Bureau gave Pacific Networks and ComNet until June 1 to respond to an April show cause order, said a letter in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. They sought an extension until June 8. The agency is considering revoking authorizations of four companies with ties to China, including Pacific Networks and ComNet (see 2004240046).

China promised countermeasures to respond to increased U.S. restrictions against Huawei, slamming “abuse of export controls” and violation of international trade laws. License requirements on shipments to Huawei for foreign-made chips containing U.S. content (see 2005180018) are a “serious threat” to China’s chip industry, China’s Commerce Ministry said Sunday, per an unofficial translation. State media said China is considering placing U.S. companies on its unreliable entity list. The rule will “complicate” operations for communication equipment manufacturers and could lead to drops in revenue and R&D efforts, emailed a U.S.-China Business Council spokesperson. “More transactions will require export licenses, adding additional expense and delays with no guarantee that licenses will be granted.” Chinese companies “of course would very much like to ... indigenize all aspects of the supply chain,” said Keith Krach, State Department undersecretary-economic growth, to reporters last week. “But at least for the moment … U.S. companies still have a very significant comparative advantage when it comes to the largely software-facilitated design tools that are involved in producing the very best chips.” National Foreign Trade Council Vice President Richard Sawaya said the rule falls short of industry’s worst fears, and members “realize that national security-related technology controls are warranted.” He said industry would have appreciated more transparency as the rules were being considered and a comment period. “That’s really what industry is asking for,” Sawaya told us: “Due process.” Monday, Huawei criticized the increased restrictions, saying they “ignore the concerns of many companies and industry associations.” It said the rule will “undermine” the global semiconductor industry. “The U.S. is leveraging its own technological strengths to crush companies outside its own borders,” the company said. Huawei’s rotating chairman, Guo Ping, said he's “confident” the company will work around the curbs. “Our experience over the past year has made us confident that we can find a solution, that our customers and suppliers can continue to stand with us and minimize the impact of this discriminatory rule,” he said. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called the rule “long overdue.” The U.S. “needs to strangle Huawei,” Sasse said. “Modern wars are fought with semiconductors, and we were letting Huawei use our American designs.”