Altice USA, reaping gains from network investments and other improvements, had its best Q1 in terms of video subscribers, with "just 10,000 net losses," CEO Dexter Goei told analysts Thursday. That was also more than some analysts said they had expected. Friday, the stock closed 6.8 percent higher at $24.50. Revenue grew in all business segments, with the highest-ever Q1 margin at 43.1 percent, and it would have been higher if not for some mobile and other costs, Goei said. "It is really cap ex light," said Chief Financial Officer Charlie Stewart said of the coming mobile product. Revenue grew 2.9 percent from the year-ago quarter to $2.4 billion, and the company has about 3.3 million video customers. Altice is "on track for a full commercial launch this summer" of wireless service, Goei said. Its partnership with Sprint led to 19,000 small cell rollouts in about a year, the "fastest rollout of its kind in the U.S.," he said. There are "major mobile handset partnerships" in place, the CEO said. "We are in a phase of heavy testing now." Altice doesn't expect wireless carriers to soon offer 5G targeted at residences where the company operates, he said. "We have seen no 5G fixed launches in our footprint." The ISP has been investing "in our own proprietary video set-top box and broadband router," better user interfaces and new features like voice control, Goei said. "We continue to see increased customer demand for higher broadband speeds and significantly growing data usage." Many customers use Netflix through their set-top, and many Altice subscribers are using voice control, he said: The average home the operator serves has about 12 connected devices. (See also page 7.) Earlier last week, Altice said it's buying Cheddar (see 1904300120).

The Prague 5G Security Conference released a set of proposals Friday for making 5G networks more secure, emphasizing a cooperative approach to security, with each nation free to develop its own policies. No suppliers were named. The U.S. has repeatedly raised concerns about Chinese equipment maker Huawei, which continues to grow its share of the worldwide smartphone market. Huawei didn’t comment and China wasn’t invited to the conference. The document says each nation must develop its own policies, which should consider “the overall risk of influence on a supplier by a third country.” The U.S. and 31 other countries attended the conference, hosted by the Czech government. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai spoke Thursday (see 1905020011). The statement appears to address U.S. concerns that Chinese banks are working with equipment suppliers to finance networks in other countries (see 1902060056). “Communication networks and network services should be financed openly and transparently using standard best practices in procurement, investment, and contracting,” the statement says. Networks and services “should be designed with resilience and security in mind,” the document says. “They should be built and maintained using international, open, consensus-based standards and risk-informed cybersecurity best practices. Clear globally interoperable cyber security guidance that would support cyber security products and services in increasing resilience of all stakeholders should be promoted.” Security is more than a technical issue, the statement says: “A safe, secure and resilient infrastructure requires adequate national strategies, sound policies, a comprehensive legal framework and dedicated personnel … trained and educated appropriately.” The U.S. government “supports” the Prague 5G Security Conference's set of proposals for making 5G networks more secure and plans to use them “as a guide to ensure our shared prosperity and security,” the White House said. The conference was “an extremely productive meeting on the need for secure telecommunications networks as the game-changing” 5G becomes “the new global system.” The FCC didn't comment.

The FCC International and Wireless bureaus sought additional comment Friday on a move to make part of the C band available for 5G. “Commenters have now weighed in by supporting or opposing a variety of clearing mechanisms, and their comments raise additional issues concerning the Commission’s authority to employ elements of those mechanisms,” said a public notice in docket 18-122. “What are the enforceable interference protection rights, if any, granted to space station operators against co-primary terrestrial operations?” the bureaus ask. “Do those rights depend on the extent incumbent earth stations receive their transmissions within the United States?” The bureaus asked similar questions on rights granted to licensed or registered receive-only earth station versus co-primary terrestrial operations. The C band is one of the main alternatives the FCC is looking at to provide mid-band spectrum for 5G, a top focus of wireless carriers (see 1904190054). Comments are due 30 days, replies 45 days after Federal Register publication.

The FCC renewed the charter for its Technological Advisory Council, said a notice in Thursday's Federal Register. The General Services Administration approved renewal April 16, the FCC said: “The Commission intends to renew the charter on or before May 17 … and provide the Committee with authorization to operate for two years from the effective date.” TAC last met March 26 to wrap up reports from 2018 (see 1903260056).

Future Tense corrected the time for Tuesday's event on science fiction and artificial intelligence policy. It starts at 1 p.m.

Security issues for 5G need to be addressed “upfront,” while networks are being built, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said at the Prague 5G Security Conference Thursday. “Making the right choices when deployment is beginning is much easier than trying to correct mistakes once network construction and operation is well underway,” Pai said. “Decisions that impact 5G security need to be made with the long term in mind. Focusing too heavily on short-term considerations could result in choices that are pennywise but pound foolish.” When it launches, 5G will affect the military, critical infrastructure and industry, he said: “The procurement and deployment decisions made now will have a generational impact on our security, economy, and society. … We cannot afford to make risky choices and just hope for the best.” Pai noted Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis convened the conference: “When presidents and prime ministers get personally involved in a communications issue, the message is clear: 5G is a critical subject with major implications for economic growth, national security, and our quality of life.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a waiver allowing the Denver Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to do an end-to-end wireless emergency alert test. The proposed test will be May 8, starting at 11 a.m. MDT, with a backup date of May 16, said a bureau order Wednesday. “In light of the threat of tornados and the coordination with the annual test of the outdoor warning siren system, we are persuaded by the Denver OEM … that the proposed WEA test will help educate the public about WEA and improve the proficiency of Denver OEM in sending a WEA message in coordination with alerts distributed via the outdoor public warning system,” the bureau said: “We are also persuaded that the proposed end-to-end test of WEA has value now.” The bureau imposed conditions, including a “comprehensive multimedia campaign” to alert the public about the test before it occurs. The District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency sought a waiver for commercial mobile service carriers to do a live WEA test at the National Mall at 11 a.m. June 22, with a backup date of June 23. The District’s third WEA test is to prepare for the July 4 celebration that’s expected to include President Donald Trump, said D.C. “If the President participates, the District of Columbia anticipates increased attendance and, potentially, counter protests or demonstrations.” The test message is to read, “This is a test of the District of Columbia Wireless Emergency Alert. No action is required.”

NTIA highlighted work to make open the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, and wrapped up lab tests of spectrum access system vendors this week. It said the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences turns "to crafting test reports with a target of providing them to the vendors in June for their submission to the FCC.” This week, working with NTIA, the FCC cleared environmental sensing capability providers (see 1904300208). “These milestones give momentum to development of the 3.5 GHz band, which affords an excellent mix of capacity and coverage capabilities, defining characteristics of mid-band spectrum,” NTIA said Wednesday. Its Office of Spectrum Management and ITS worked together, the agency said: “From shrinking exclusion zones into smaller protection zones to designing the concept of dynamic protection areas to assisting the FCC in certifying the components of the spectrum sharing mechanism, it has been a long, complex process, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.” Each radar detector had "to see thousands of low-power radar pulses successfully," blogged ITS Director Keith Gremban. "Detectors also had to keep functioning in the presence of high-power radar pulses that were equivalent to what you would see if you were just 6 miles from a radar transmitting a billion watts.”

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel sent letters to CEOs of the four major national wireless carriers Wednesday asking what they're doing to make sure real-time location information they collect isn’t being sold to data aggregators. News of the sale of the data to bounty hunters and related businesses broke last May, she noted. “This is a personal and national security issue that affects every American with a cell phone,” Rosenworcel said. The FCC said it’s investigating but hasn’t “provided the public with any details,” she said. “Nor has it taken any public action to ensure this activity has stopped.” Rosenworcel released letters to AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. “The FCC needs to do more to protect the privacy and security of American consumers,” she said. “It needs to do more to provide the public with basic information about what is happening with their real-time location information.” Verizon was “the first to take action” when questions arose last summer, a spokesperson said: “We followed through with our pledge and have fully terminated our location aggregator arrangements.” AT&T is "committed to end the aggregator services in March, which we did,” said a spokesperson there. The other carriers and CTIA didn't comment. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks also wants quick action on the data-selling complaints (see 1902080056).

The FCC Public Safety Bureau plans a workshop on “multilingual emergency alerting to meet community needs,” June 28, said a public notice Tuesday. It will include presentations on multilingual capabilities of the emergency alert system and wireless emergency alerts, “alternative methods for delivering emergency information to the non-English speaking public,” and examples of these systems in use, the PN said. It's 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. Multilingual alerting remains in an early stage (see 1904240021).