China Telecom countered FCC arguments that, rather than getting expedited review, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit should dismiss its case against the agency revoking Communications Act Section 214 authorizations (see 2102020029). In January, the company sought expedited court review (see 2101220050). The FCC is “determined to rush to judgment and revoke [China Telecom’s] Section 214 authority and authorizations -- without an evidentiary hearing -- arbitrarily and capriciously reversing decades of agency precedent, ignoring its own rules, and denying CTA due process of law,” said a Monday filing (in Pacer) in docket 20-2365: “Respondents’ arguments to the contrary are a distraction.”

Chris Krebs, former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director, will testify Wednesday about cyberthreats, the House Homeland Security Committee announced Friday. Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon, Cyber Threat Alliance CEO Michael Daniel and Silverado Policy Accelerator Executive Chairman Dmitri Alperovitch will also testify. The virtual hearing is at 2 p.m.

Product development in Nokia’s 5G network business is “delivering in a pretty promising manner,” said CEO Pekka Lundmark on a Q4 call. The company plans to increase its R&D investment “to make sure that we repeat the success of 4G also in 5G,” he said. Nokia has 90% success converting 4G network contracts to 5G, excluding China, he said. “We have currently 195 commercial 5G engagements,” including 45 “live 5G networks” and deployments that have progressed to “paid trials,” he said. Lundmark estimated Nokia’s 5G network market share was 27%-28% at the end of 2020 and will fall slightly to 25%-27% by Dec. 31: “Not that dramatic, but still there is a small drop.” For 2020, “we cannot be happy” that sales for the Nokia group declined 4% on a “constant currency” basis, despite a 19% increase in North America, he said. Sales in Europe, its No. 2 market, rose 2% in constant currency, he said. The stock closed 7% lower Thursday at $4.37.

China Telecom asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit not to stay its case against the FCC revoking its Communications Act Section 214 authorizations, saying Tuesday (in Pacer) that it plans a reply to a motion by the FCC and the U.S. government. The FCC asked the court Monday to dismiss the petition for review, in docket 20-2365. “The Court lacks jurisdiction over China Telecom’s challenges because the underlying administrative proceeding is still ongoing and the interlocutory Order challenged here is not final agency action subject to review at this time,” the FCC said (in Pacer). In January, China Telecom sought expedited court review (see 2101220050).

On Semiconductor's new CEO Hassane El-Khoury won't make a "short-term decision” about U.S. semiconductor production “based on politics that will hinder us from potentially achieving our maximum value creation,” he said Monday on a Q4 call. He was asked about federal incentives under the National Defense Authorization Act to promote U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and R&D (see 2101030002). He entered the role vowing to cease investments in product sectors or markets with low potential for revenue or margin growth, with a comprehensive plan of possible divestitures due by late summer. “If at the end of that first tranche" of decisions there's "alignment with where the administration is going or what state we are in, that’s great,” said El-Khoury, the former Cypress Semiconductor chief. On stock was up 6.6% to $36.77.

Explain why it didn't previously act to protect government from supply chain hacks like Juniper and SolarWinds, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and eight House Democrats wrote the NSA Friday. They criticized the agency for not acting in the 2015 Juniper Networks attack (see 2006100023), which they said is similar to the recent SolarWinds hack (see 2101260066). “Despite promising a full investigation after it announced the breach, Juniper has never publicly accounted for the incident,” the group said. Congress must determine the root cause of the Juniper attack and NSA’s role in the design and promotion of the “flawed encryption algorithm” that played a “central role,” the lawmakers wrote. NSA declined to comment.

The State Department should provide evidence justifying creating a new bureau focused on cybersecurity and emerging technology, GAO recommended Thursday. State informed Congress of its plans in 2019, and Secretary Antony Blinken approved the new bureau this month. Briefing slides didn’t “show that State used evidence to justify its proposal or explain how it would address any challenges,” the auditor said. The slides and a memo didn’t “sufficiently demonstrate that it used data and evidence in developing its proposal,” the report said. The department instead “presented four options for the organizational placement of the new bureau, with ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ listed for each option,” the report said. The department said it disagreed with the characterization. It said it provided appropriate material detailing options the department has for establishing the Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies Bureau, options the report didn’t closely examine. State said a draft report noted only one potential downside to the proposal: separating cyber and digital policy between different undersecretaries, which could pose coordination challenges. The department agreed that evaluating relevant data and evidence, “when available,” could be useful in determining program effectiveness.

Intel invested $475 million in its Vietnamese subsidiary, in addition to the $1 billion it spent more than a decade ago to build a chip assembly and test manufacturing facility in Ho Chi Minh City, it blogged Tuesday. Intel Products Vietnam shipped more than 2 billion units of components to customers globally through the end of 2020, it said. It’s the largest U.S. tech investment in Vietnam, it said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative under the Trump administration found Vietnam’s allegedly improper devaluation of the dong against the dollar actionable under the Trade Act Section 301, leaving it to the next USTR to decide whether to impose tariffs on Hanoi (see 2101150052).

Katherine Tai, President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. trade representative, built a reputation as being tough on China’s intellectual property abuses when she was House Ways and Means lead trade counsel, said trade expert John Brew of Crowell & Moring. Her confirmation hearings in “a few weeks” likely will provide the first tangible insight into how the new administration will address existing tariffs on China and possible imposition of duties on Vietnam, he told a Sports & Fitness Industry Association webinar Tuesday. Tech groups oppose such levies.

Ethos Capital's buying control of Donuts isn't a plot for back door control of .org, a Donuts representative told us Monday. The venture capital firm announced Friday it's taking a controlling interest in the domain name giant, which recently bought top-level domain registry Afilias. ICANN shot down Ethos Capital's attempt last year to buy the Public Interest Registry (PIR), which operates .org, after an outcry from public interest advocates and some lawmakers (see 2005010003). It's unclear whether the private equity firm's buy of Afilias, which runs .org's technical operations, could signal another try for PIR, emailed Jothan Frakes, CEO of registrar Plisk.com. "No," emailed Donuts founder and board member Paul Stahura. The technical registry fees Afilias receives for operating .org are small in proportion to Afilias' revenue, and when combined with Donuts, even smaller, he said. Moreover, PIR and the Internet Society, which owns it, have the option to move their back-end provider to whoever offers the best service for the lowest price, Stahura added. The combined shows "really noteworthy" domain name industry consolidation, Frakes said: Centralnic made numerous acquisitions in 2020, as did mmx.co, which acquired ICM Registry, while GoDaddy bought Neustar's registry business. The industry "saw some consistency" in the shifts that working during the pandemic caused, he said. Not only did registrations continue, but the secondary market also had growth. There were record domain name sales, such as $20 million for money.com. It's important to keep an eye on how these vertically integrated businesses operate and whether competition remains, Frakes said. Ethos Capital didn't comment.