As China gains ground in technology, Congress should pursue more investment and restrictions to prevent China from accessing sensitive U.S. technologies, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission reported Tuesday. Commissioners said China’s access to U.S. technologies is helping it innovate and export surveillance tools and other advanced technologies globally. Commissioners expect trade restrictions to continue. “There is greater scrutiny and presumably greater action will come as a result of not only what Congress has done, but also the identification of numerous companies on the entity list” barring such transfers and maintained by the U.S. government, Commissioner Michael Wessel told an event hosted by the commission. The report said China is seeking to dominate the development of emerging technologies by securing leadership roles at international standards-setting bodies and “rewriting the norms by which they operate.” China hopes to exclude the U.S. and EU because it views standards as a “policy tool to advance its economic and geopolitical interests,” the report said. Experts told the commission this earlier this year (see 2006250050). The U.S. should create an interagency executive committee on international standards to form a coordinated response to Chinese actions at these bodies, said Commissioner James Talent, ex-Republican senator from Missouri. Talent said the committee would be modeled after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., with “high-level political appointees” from agencies with jurisdiction over standards setting, such as the Commerce Department. The White House didn't comment Wednesday on the recommendations in the annual report to Congress. China sees "the so-called commission" as having "always been ideologically biased against China," said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wednesday. "There is no factual basis for the vilification and smear of China in various reports it has fabricated."
Four of every 10 mobile subscriptions globally will be 5G in 2026, reported Ericsson Monday. “Current 5G uptake in subscriptions and population coverage confirms the technology as deploying the fastest of any generation of mobile connectivity.” Ericsson estimates that by year-end, more than a billion people -- 15% of the population -- will live in an area with 5G coverage. That’s expected to grow to 60% in 2026, when 5G subscriptions are forecast to reach 3.5 billion. Ericsson projects that globally, such subs will reach 220 million by the end of 2020, 4% of them in North America. “Commercialization is now moving at a rapid pace,” said the company, and 80% of North American mobile customers by 2026 will be fifth-generation, the highest of any region.
China made the strategic “and unfair” decision to ban or discriminate against foreign internet companies in China, and now Chinese firms “want to be able to enter foreign markets,” reported the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. The Biden administration should work with U.S. allies to “embrace reciprocity” under World Trade Organization rules and principles, said ITIF. As long as China doesn't let foreign internet firms operate fairly in China, those nations should enact measures that “exclude or disadvantage” Chinese internet firms in their own and third-country markets until there's reciprocity, ITIF said. There’s likely little that other governments can do to open up China’s internet market, “but they can and should contest Chinese firms’ efforts to gain market share overseas,” it said. The Commerce Department “should expand and upgrade its network of digital attache positions in China and other U.S. embassies around the world,” it said. “The next administration should work more aggressively in international bodies to defend cross-border data flows and empower industries to forge international standards that ensure a level playing field.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent Joe Biden a congratulatory message Wednesday on his victory in the Nov. 3 election, reported the Chinese Embassy in Washington. Promoting “healthy and stable development” of China-U.S. relations “serves the fundamental interests of the people in both countries” and “meets the common expectation of the international community,” Xi told Biden, according to the account. The Biden transition team didn’t comment.
Global telco cloud revenue will grow to $29.3 billion by 2025, primarily driven by investments in virtual network functions, management and network orchestration, as well as cloud native functions, ABI Research reported Tuesday. 5G network slicing is positioned to create $8.9 billion by 2026, a "drop in the bucket" for communication service provider service revenue, said analyst Don Alusha. "The jury is still out who captures what parts of the bigger emerging 5G edge and network slicing ecosystem."
The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry declined comment Monday on Antony Blinken, a former State Department deputy in the Obama administration, as President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to become secretary of state. “We don't comment on U.S. internal affairs,” said a ministry spokesperson. “China is ready to strengthen communication with the United States, expand cooperation, manage differences, and work for sound and stable development of China-U.S. ties.” The U.S. is at a “strategic disadvantage” against China because the Trump administration tried to strong-arm Beijing without enlisting the help of U.S. allies, Blinken told a Hudson Institute event July 9. “We need to rally our allies and partners instead of alienating them to deal with some of the challenges that China poses.” The U.S. generates about a quarter of the world’s GDP, said Blinken. “When we're working with allies and partners, depending on who we bring into the mix, it's 50 or 60% of GDP. That's a lot more weight and a lot harder for China to ignore.”
A new State Department paper warning of China and its global trade ambitions “only serves to lay bare the entrenched Cold War mindset and ideological prejudice of some people on the U.S. side and their fear, anxiety and unhealthy mentality towards a growing China," said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Thursday. “Their vile attempts to bring back the Cold War will be mercilessly rejected by the Chinese people and all peace-lovers around the world,” he said. The Chinese Communist Party “aims not merely at preeminence within the established world order,” but to “fundamentally revise world order” by serving “Beijing’s authoritarian goals and hegemonic ambitions,” said the paper, titled The Elements of the China Challenge. It proposed a “tasks” list to “refashion” U.S. policy by educating Americans “about the scope and implications” of the alleged threat and training a “new generation of public servants” fluent in Chinese. The U.S. also “must promote American interests by looking for opportunities to cooperate with Beijing subject to norms of fairness and reciprocity,” it said. The State Department didn’t respond to questions Thursday.
Baidu’s $3.6 billion all-cash buy of YY Live, the Chinese video streaming service, will render ad-free content a more “meaningful piece” of Baidu’s core business, said Chief Financial Officer Herman Yu on a Q3 investor call Monday. Once Baidu closes the transaction in 2021's first half, its ad-supported “legacy business, which has been dragging our mobile ecosystem growth, will become an even smaller piece” of the company’s portfolio, he said. Baidu has “substantial upside from growing nonadvertising revenue,” said CEO Robin Li. Ad-free revenue, as a share of Baidu’s “consumer-facing business,” is much lower than that of its “peers,” he said. “Adding YY Live to our portfolio will allow Baidu to gain immediate operational experience and know-how on building a large live video community,” plus speed its migration to ad-free revenue, he said. Li rationalized the deal amid growing saturation in streaming services, saying “it's only natural for us to integrate with a live streaming business such as YY and further monetize our existing user base and traffic” of 300 million daily active users.
Roku is the only major video streaming service without HBO Max, after HBO's announcement Monday the service will be available on Amazon Fire TV devices starting Tuesday. Roku customers had access to HBO Go before the shutdown of that app in July but can’t get HBO through the Roku platform due to ongoing talks (see 2007010059). “We’re in discussions with Roku,” emailed a spokesperson at HBO parent AT&T Monday. Roku didn’t comment. The $14.99 monthly HBO Max service begins rolling out on Amazon Fire TV streaming players, Fire TV Edition smart TVs and Fire tablets Tuesday. Existing HBO subscribers through Amazon’s Prime Video channels will be able to log into the HBO Max app with their Amazon credentials “at no additional cost,” said HBO. The HBO app on Fire TV and Fire tablets will automatically update to become the HBO Max app, and customers will be able to log in using existing HBO credentials. HBO Max customers, regardless of how they subscribe to the platform, can access all of HBO Max via supported Fire TV and Fire tablet devices using existing provider credentials, it said. The agreement includes integration with Alexa for voice search. HBO Max content is also integrated into universal search on Fire TV: Its content will appear in searches such as “Alexa, find dramas” or “Alexa, find Game of Thrones,” for example. Since HBO Max launched in May, 8.6 million customers activated subscriptions.
Challenges to AST's pending U.S. market access petition for its SpaceMobile broadband constellation (see 2011040003) ignore that it won't operate on exclusively terrestrial frequencies but will provide service through lease agreements with terrestrial licensees on their authorized frequencies, the company said in an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday. It said its V-band waiver is only to allow it to use the band for gateway services and transmit to only two U.S. earth station locations.