Gary Lerude, MWJ Technical Editor

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the U.S. government will “shortly” issue licenses to allow some suppliers to ship some U.S. products to Huawei, although he cautioned that the export restrictions imposed in May presume any license application will be denied. Some 260 license applications have been submitted.

Wolfspeed’s fiscal first quarter revenue was flat year-over-year and down 5 percent from the prior quarter, which parent Cree attributed to soft demand in China for electric vehicles (EV) and a push out of 5G, triggered by the U.S. banning exports to Huawei.

Signals Research Group, a consulting firm focused on the wireless industry, has been in the field testing the actual performance of 5G, measuring networks in Korea, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S., operating at 3.5 and 28 GHz. The company released a report of its findings this week, confirming that 5G is working.

Addressing the need for mid-band spectrum for 5G, the FCC released proposed rules for auctioning licenses in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band, scheduled to begin on June 25, 2020. The FCC will officially act on the proposed rules at its next public meeting, on September 26.

During the recent earnings call, MACOM’s new CEO, Steve Daly, outlined the path to restore profitability. It appears the direction is the same, at a lower run rate while accelerating the development of "compelling" products.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added 46 additional Huawei affiliates to the “entity list” today, meaning exporting products from the U.S. to any of these organizations and individuals requires an export license — with BIS warning the going-in presumption is that any license application will be denied. BIS also extended the temporary license provision by 90 days, allowing companies and consumers using Huawei equipment to find other options.

During this week’s earnings call, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg talked about Verizon’s sub-6 GHz spectrum plans, saying Verizon will use dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) to host 5G and 4G on the same spectrum, eventually transitioning to 5G. This week, Verizon also announced its mobile, mmWave 5G service is available in parts of Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis and Washington DC.

Custom MMIC commemorated its recent office and lab expansion with a ribbon cutting ceremony, with U.S. Congresswoman Lori Trahan cutting the ribbon and congratulating company employees on the success of the 13-year-old firm.

Apple reported fiscal Q3 revenue of $53.8 billion — just 1 percent year-over-year growth. All segments grew except for iPhone; its revenue was down 12 percent from last year's quarter. CEO Tim Cook said that was an improvement over the 17 percent year-over-year decline in Q2.