The proportion of the world's population using mobile internet on its own devices is growing but at a slowing pace, GSMA said Wednesday. Between 2015 and 2021, more than 200 million users were added annually, but 2023, like 2022, saw 160 million begin using mobile internet, it said. In all, 4.6 billion people -- 57% of the world's population -- are using mobile internet on their own device -- but another 350 million are in remote areas without mobile internet coverage and 3.1 billion can access coverage but don't, GSMA said. The least-connected region is sub-Saharan Africa, with 27% of the population using mobile internet service. Device affordability and digital literacy are major barriers to broader adoption.

China-based Hikvision USA provided the FCC with additional information about its proposed plan for compliance with agency rules (see 2308070047). Questions were posed during an August meeting with staff from the FCC Public Safety Bureau, Office of Engineering and Office of General Counsel, said a filing this week in docket 21-232. “Hikvision does not market, sell, or distribute component parts to the U.S. market,” the company said: “Nor does it intentionally make available Hikvision-manufactured component parts for inclusion in products marketed, sold, or distributed in the United States.” Hikvision said Hangzhou Hikvision Technology “or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates, such as Ezviz or HikRobot, contracts directly” with original equipment manufacturers. It’s Hikvision’s understanding “that the OEM entity will apply for and obtain the applicable equipment authorization from the Commission,” the filing said.

U.S. companies and trade groups applauded a recent Bureau of Industry and Security rule that expanded the agency’s export control exemption for certain standards-setting activities. They said the rule change will help remove licensing barriers that American officials face at international bodies while working on emerging technology standards. While the Technology Trade Regulation Alliance welcomed the rule changes, it said BIS should continue expanding the exemption to cover a wider set of technologies discussed in standards bodies involving the electronics, telecommunications and aviation industries. For example, the TTRA said BIS should harmonize its standards-setting-related controls with how it treats other information shared publicly, such as fundamental research. The rule “appears inconsistent with the BIS approach to other First Amendment protected commercial speech,” the alliance said. UL Standards & Engagement, a nonprofit standards development organization, and the Wi-Fi Alliance said the rule update will help their members more easily participate in standards bodies. The Wi-Fi Alliance specifically said the rule confirms that the type of standards-related activity its members are involved in “is not restricted by the Export Administration Regulations.” BIS issued rules in 2020 and 2022 that authorize releasing certain controlled technology for specific standards-setting activities, including when companies on the Entity List, such as Huawei, are participating in those bodies.

Based on preliminary findings, the telecom equipment market declined 16% year over year in Q2, “recording a fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit contractions,” Dell’Oro Group said in a new report. “Helping to explain the abysmal results are excess inventory, weaker demand in China, challenging 5G comparisons, and elevated uncertainty,” the report said. China saw a 17% market downturn, but Chinese gear makers Huawei and ZTE are gaining market share, Dell’Oro said. The top seven suppliers in the first half of the year were Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson, ZTE, Cisco, Ciena and Samsung, the report said: “Huawei and ZTE combined gained nearly 3 percentage points of share between 2023 and 1H24.”

GSMA said the group’s board selected Vivek Badrinath as director general and member of the board, effective April 1, replacing Mats Granryd. Badrinath comes to GSMA from Vantage Towers, where he was CEO. Previously he was an executive at Vodafone and Orange. The announcement of Badrinath followed a “rigorous selection process,” said GSMA, which produces the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona each year. In addition, it produces regional conferences, including a version in Las Vegas each fall with CTIA. “During our selection process it was clear that Vivek’s deep understanding of the industry and its potential make him the ideal individual to lead the GSMA into the next phase of its evolution,” said Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete Lopez, GSMA chair. Granryd will stay in the position through April 1 and become a special adviser to the board for the remainder of 2025, the Monday announcement said.

Taiwan-based Edgecore Networks announced Tuesday it’s working with India’s Indio Networks to accelerate adoption of OpenWiFi. “By integrating Edgecore’s OpenWiFi-compliant products with Indio's Open Cloud Controller and Wi-Fi service management platform, the partnership offers users a high-performance OpenWiFi networking solution that enhances operational efficiency,” said a news release. Open-source architecture “provides users not only with freedom but also the ability to overcome limitations, increase operational efficiency, and improve overall network” return on investment, said TengTai Hsu, Edgecore vice president.

Ukraine’s Military Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology, which suffered a Russian missile attack Tuesday killing more than 50 people according to media reports, provides telecom education to military and nonmilitary students in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava. The institute offers education in information and cybersecurity, information systems and technologies and telecom and radio engineering, based on the institute’s website.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr supported SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in online posts and remarks over the weekend, condemning the actions of a Brazilian judge against Musk’s X social media platform as part of a global movement toward censorship. Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes issued an order banning X Friday. “de Moreas’ own words make clear that he is attempting to strike a broader blow against free speech and in favor of authoritarian controls,” Carr wrote in a long X post on de Moraes’ opinion. “With X refusing to cave to secret and unlawful demands, you’re now seeing public and unlawful demands instead,” Carr wrote. He also reposted Musk's comments, condemning de Moraes as a dictator during an audio-only X Spaces stream. “This is part of a global movement where people believe that they can get away with what would otherwise be characterized as naked authoritarian actions, provided that they use the rubric of doing this to, quote, preserve democracy or save democracy,” Carr said. “If you are going particularly after the right type of political enemies, which happen right now, for whatever reason, to be sort of the populist right,” then “there's been a level of acceptance,” said Carr. “What is happening in Brazil that should be immediately and clearly rejected by the right, the left and the center, because once we erode these ideas of free speech and individual liberty every single one of us end up being harmed at the end of the day.” Carr has increasingly engaged with Musk on X (see 2408190040) in recent weeks (see 2408270048), visited SpaceX in August and posted a picture of himself and Musk together last week.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel signed an enforcement and data-sharing agreement with Canada’s privacy regulator, the agency announced Wednesday. The memorandum of understanding between Rosenworcel and Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne establishes a framework for sharing enforcement-related information in both countries, the FCC said: “In today’s digital age, telecommunications carriers have access to vast amounts of personal information, which is stored and transmitted across complex networks that extend beyond traditional borders. Cross-border enforcement cooperation helps to protect consumer privacy, data, and cybersecurity.” Rosenworcel said data privacy protection and cybersecurity are a “top priority” for the commission.

Rakuten Mobile reached a deal with a group of infrastructure funds to sell and leaseback parts of its network, Rakuten said Thursday. The company expects it will raise as much as $2.1 billion working with the group, which includes Macquarie Asset Management and British Columbia Investment Management. “Rakuten Mobile is already well on its way to profitability, and with our new initiative, we will continue to build on this momentum as we aim to reach profitability even faster and become the top mobile carrier in Japan,” Mickey Mikitani, Rakuten Group chair and CEO, said.