The number of 5G users in China topped 400 million in Q1, Chinese news service Shine reported. That's one in every four subscribers, based on numbers from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. China added 48.1 million 5G subscribers in Q1, hitting 403 million, Shine said Tuesday.

The FCC opposed a petition by Pacific Networks and its subsidiary ComNet in its appeal of the FCC’s 4-0 March order revoking their authority to offer domestic or international services in the U.S. (see 2203160031), in a Friday pleading at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in docket 22-1054. “Based on an extensive record, the Commission found that the Companies -- which are majority-owned by China’s Ministry of Finance -- are subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government, which has engaged in malicious cyber activities targeted at the United States,” the FCC said: "The Companies claim … to pose somewhat less of a threat than larger carriers due to their smaller size, but an ostensibly smaller national security threat remains a national security threat.” The companies responded Monday to the pleading. The FCC “does not dispute that, unlike those previous orders, the Executive Branch did not recommend that the FCC revoke Petitioners’ authorizations,” they said: “The Opposition fails to respond to Petitioners’ claim that, among the many disputed facts at issue, a hearing before an administrative law judge would have provided a forum in which an independent factfinder could have determined whether Petitioners are similar to the large companies whose authorizations the FCC revoked and whether Petitioners’ services pose any realistic threat to national security.”

Nokia expects “no impact” to its financial outlook from its decision to exit Russia over the Ukraine invasion, said the company Tuesday. It has been clear to Nokia since the “early days” of the Feb. 24 invasion that “continuing our presence in Russia would not be possible,” it said. “Over the last weeks we have suspended deliveries, stopped new business and are moving our limited R&D activities out of Russia. We can now announce we will exit the Russian market.” Western governments, for “humanitarian reasons,” have expressed concerns about “the risk of critical telecommunication network infrastructure in Russia failing,” said Nokia. Governments have also emphasized the importance of “ensuring the continued flow of information and access to the internet which provides outside perspectives to the Russian people,” it said. “The most responsible course of action” for Nokia as it exits the Russian market is to “aim to provide the necessary support to maintain the networks" by applying for "the relevant licenses to enable this support in compliance with current sanctions,” it said. Nokia drew less than 2% of its 2021 net sales from Russia and expects to take a “provision” of 100 million euros ($108.3 million) on its Q1 results from its decision to leave, it said.

Chinese companies Huawei and Lenovo are two of the few global tech companies still doing business in Russia nearly seven weeks into the Ukraine invasion, reported John Strand of Strand Consult Tuesday. “There is a consensus among people and organizations in the free world that the invasion is despicable, and hence there is a desire to end relations with Russia,” he said: “Companies interpret that if they continue to do business in the country, that they will suffer backlash from the public and reputational repercussions in future. Moreover, consumers and shareholders are sophisticated [enough] to understand the power of their money to influence political decisions and behavior.”

EU and Ukrainian operators will cooperate to keep Ukrainian refugees connected, the European Commission announced Friday. The agreement, brokered by the EC and the European Parliament, was signed by 27 operators (and counting) in the EU and Ukraine, including members of associations such as the European Telecommunications Network Operators Association, the GSM Association and MVNO Europe, the EC said. The initiative aims to create a more stable framework to help displaced Ukrainians in Europe stay in touch with friends and family back home. Operators will voluntarily and bilaterally lower wholesale roaming charges as well as wholesale fees for terminating international calls through commercial agreements. In return, Ukrainian telcos said they will gradually reduce international termination rates for calls to Ukraine originating from EU numbers, and calls to Ukraine from Ukrainian numbers roaming in the EU, toward levels that will allow EU operators to offer reduced wholesale roaming charges and affordable international calls to people calling Ukraine. They also agreed to pass along the full benefits of the lower EU wholesale roaming charges to their customers roaming in Europe.

The FCC denied a request by China Unicom (Americas) for to extend from April 4 to July 2 the time it has to discontinue the Section 214 services it provides enterprise customers. “The motion does not contain sufficient justification or evidence to support a 90-day extension,” the Thursday order said: “If CUA’s existing enterprise customers are experiencing difficulty with transitioning to a different service provider within the timeframe set forth in the Order on Revocation, we would reasonably expect CUA to identify these customers and/or to provide supporting affidavits from these customers.” Commissioners voted 4-0 in January to revoke the Chinese company’s authorizations (see 2201270030). The International, Wireline and Enforcement bureaus issued the order.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai denied Thursday in a Senate Finance Committee hearing that the need she identified a day earlier before House Ways and Means to “turn the page on the old playbook” (see 2203300051) meant that the Biden administration was walking away from holding China accountable for its commitments under the phase one trade agreement. The U.S. needs to “stick with” phase one and enforce the agreement’s “dispute resolution” provisions, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Tai. “If we just say we’re going to forget that and make that part of the old playbook, I think it sends a terrible message,” said Portman, the former USTR under President George W. Bush. “When China makes an agreement with us, in order to fulfill their obligations, we have to exercise our legal rights.” The old playbook, responded Tai, “focused exclusively on pressuring China” to curb its bad trade behavior. “We are not giving up on pressing China,” she said. “All tools remain on the table with respect to dispute settlement and enforcement,” said Tai. “In fact, what I’m saying is we’re committing to doing more work, and our strategy needs to expand.”

The FCC released an order revoking Pacific Networks’ and its subsidiary ComNet’s authority to offer domestic or international services in the U.S., approved by commissioners 4-0 at their March meeting (see 2203160031). The Wednesday order cites “the changed national security environment” for China since the companies were authorized to offer service. “We find that the Companies are U.S. subsidiaries of a Chinese state-owned entity, and therefore they are subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government and are highly likely to be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight,” the order said. The companies have 60 days to shutter their U.S. operations.

The FCC told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit it rightly revoked China Telecom’s domestic and international authorities (see 2111150025). “The record shows that China Telecom’s control of U.S. communications infrastructure could be used to disrupt, misroute, or intercept U.S. communications at the behest of the Chinese government -- a finding that China Telecom’s brief neither acknowledges nor meaningfully disputes,” said a Thursday brief (docket 21-1233). The company’s “conduct and representations to government agencies and violations of commitments in its Letter of Assurances independently demonstrate a lack of trustworthiness and reliability required of companies operating critical telecommunications infrastructure,” the agency said.

Ukraine's information technology sector is functioning normally despite the war, said panelists Tuesday on a DigitalEurope webinar. It may be the only expert sector in the country that continues to work, said IT Ukraine Association Executive Director Konstantin Vasyuk. Internet coverage is generally good, he said. About 2% of IT workers, those with military experience, have joined in defending against the Russian invasion, and companies respect that choice and are holding their jobs open. Others are staying put, and companies have moved them to safe locations in European countries, Ukraine or the U.S. Women, who make up 26% of the IT workforce, can transfer to Europe, while men must remain in-country. Vasyuk urged clients to support the sector by maintaining their contracts and considering new ones. Asked where the IT industry might be in 10 years, he said if Ukraine survives, its existing IT work in the global market will continue. Ukraine Avenga Managing Director Marta Romaniak said the war didn't catch her company unprepared: It transferred data and infrastructure to safe places such as the U.S. and relocated 300 female staffers and spouses of male IT workers. The firm's human resources department calls employees daily to check on them and ask if they need help. Avenga hasn't lost any clients. Grid Dynamics has moved 95%-97% of its workers to western parts of Ukraine and is shifting women and families to its offices in Poland, Moldova, Serbia, the Netherlands, Germany and elsewhere, said Senior Director Igor Tkach. In addition to continuing business support from clients, the sector needs informational support: He urged everyone to spread the word about what's really happening in Ukraine. Asked how the country's telecom network is holding up, Digital Europe Director-General Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl told us it's still up and running, but infrastructure in battle zones is suffering. DigitalEurope is trying to bring components from Europe needed to keep the networks open, and is also helping with ICT and humanitarian initiatives. In February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law establishing the National Commission for State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum and Provision of Postal Services. Earlier this month, mobile operators Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell, plus the newly created telecom regulator, government, state information protection services and the Ukrainian Association of Telecom Operators, reportedly launched a national roaming pilot to ensure continuity of communications services.