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The US Justice Department on Thursday asked for a hearing on Qualcomm's possible punishment if a California judge agrees with the Federal Trade Commission and declares the chipmaker to be a monopoly -- largely because it's worried about competition in 5G.
In a statement of interest filed in US District Court in San Jose, California, the DOJ's antitrust division asked that "in the event that the court finds liability on any of the FTC's claims, the court should order additional briefing and hold a hearing on issues related to a remedy." The DOJ said that the court should carefully consider what remedy to carry out because it's worried about the US' position in the race to 5G.
"There is a plausible prospect that an overly broad remedy in this case could reduce competition and innovation in markets for 5G technology and downstream applications that rely on that technology," the US wrote. "Such an outcome could exceed the appropriate scope of an equitable antitrust remedy. Moreover, it has the distinct potential to harm rather than help competition."
The US stressed, though, that it hasn't taken a position on the merits of the FTC's claims.
Qualcomm declined to comment. The FTC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
[...] After years of work on 5G networks, hyped as the life-changing foundation for augmented reality, telemedicine and other tech trends, the super-fast wireless technology is being rolled out. Carriers are turning on their networks, and virtually every major Android handset maker has touted plans to launch a 5G device this year. The vast majority of those devices will use 5G modems from Qualcomm.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @08:14PM (5 children)
Even the mighty Intel can't produce the chip reliably.
Apple, Inc. is just a marketing front.
We deserve to get fucked over by Huawei.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @09:10PM (4 children)
"5G networks, hyped as the life-changing foundation for augmented reality, telemedicine and other tech trends"
WTF?
"Telemedicine" SERIOUSLY over cellular radio?
What is wrong with WIRED (you know, buried fibre) networking?
There is no fscking way 5G is going to be deployed in the boonies any time soon
which would be the only place this makes any sense, and then you still need high-bandwidth
fibre for backhaul.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @09:19PM (1 child)
You are so wrong. AT&T has already deployed 5G wireless all over the place, in fact they are so far ahead they're using 5G Evolution technology for most customers.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 05 2019, @09:54PM
ho ho he he ha ha
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday May 05 2019, @10:03PM (1 child)
One of the mobile providers where I live is advertising 5G on TV at the moment and pretending it is going to be some sort of life changing thing.
"If you're not thinking about 5G for your business, you will be left behind" sort of thing. Just like they did for 4G and 3G before that.
I am not sure what they're really selling.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @12:26AM
I'll stick with "buried fiber in the ground not to be sniffed out of the sky" networking for my business, thank you.