Corona is already the worst epidemic of the last thirty years. The best scientists in the world aren’t sure when it will be brought under control. My brother, a Professor of Emergency Medicine, is hopeful of control soon, but isn’t certain.
If contained, cell phones sales will be down 40-70 million in Q1, including a reduction of >10 million in the China 5G plan. Many stores are closed and people worldwide holding back. The supply chain is already struggling. Let us all hope Corona does not get worse, which would produce total havoc in our connected world.
Apple expects a blowout 2020, upping chip orders by 50% (Digitimes) The $399 SE phone may miss its March date but is coming soon, Apple’s biggest profits are now coming from a cut of the store games & apps. Dropping price will yield more buyers for the services.
iPhone 5G in the fall should also be humungous. More than half of the premium phone buyers ib the West go Apple and will probably rush in. Verizon is racing to have 5G ready when the iPhone comes out.
Deutsche Glasfiber raised $8B for 6 million fiber homes passed.
BT is already hurting from independent fiber and DT, which is far behind in FTTH, is also vulnerable. The pension funds can only get 2-3% on safe investments and are jumping in to fiber big time, hoping for a safe 6-7%. Telus had a great quarter, which it attributed to 70% fiber coverage.
Ajit Pai wants to cut $10 Lifeline for the poor in the U.S. I’m actively campaigning to stop him.
Reliance Jio ended 2019 with 370 million 4G subscribers, more than the U.S. has people. 5-10 million more are joining each month. Jio fiber home has gone commercial, planning 50 million. India will soon have more Internet users than the United States and Western Europe combined. China is already there. Internet policy has to adjust or become irrelevant.
Consumers have not caught on to the fact that low-band 5G is slower than good 4G. T-Mobile U.S. is doing massive advertising and Swisscom is using 2100 MHz at 4G speeds. Politicians want to say they done great things for 5G and are hiding their heads in the sand about the real performance.