Amid all the bullish talk about 5G at MWC Barcelona 19, there was also some nervous hand wringing. Even as progress is being made, the tab for this next-generation connectivity remains daunting. The GSMA trade group that hosts the event formerly known as Mobile World Congress estimates that carriers will be spending $160 billion on an annual basis to roll out 5G networks around the world. And that doesn't include trillions more that are estimated to be needed to install related infrastructure for things like autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and interactive content like live streaming virtual reality. "Rolling out 5G is a communications revolution that will profoundly change every aspect of our lives," wrote Tony Wonfor, Managing Director of telecom financing firm Greensill, in a report on 5G costs.

Ren Zhengfei, the reclusive founder and CEO of China's embattled tech giant, Huawei, is defiant about American efforts to impede his company with lawsuits and restrictions. "There is no way the US can crush us," Ren said in a rare recent interview with international media. "The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced." It might sound like bluff and bluster, but these words carry a measure of truth. Huawei's technology road map, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, points to a company that is progressing more rapidly--and on more technology fronts--than any other business in the world.

Spotlight on AI & Robotics Innovations at MWC 2019 Every year as the calendar turns from February to March, the world's leading electronics and telecommunications companies, startups, inventors, and a herd of tech journalists and analysts head to the Mobile World Congress. MWC 2019 kicked off February 25 in Barcelona, Spain, and the leading congress of its type has already produced a plethora of news and products built on AI and robotics. MWC 2019: Intel's'network in a box' for smart cities Intel is targeting smart cities deployments by looking into providing a network-in-a-box offering that integrates its Movidius artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator, multi-access edge computing, and a 5G mobile network all into a single offering. "It's essentially a solution that can go into smart city where it sits like a beacon up on a wall," Intel GM of 5G Advanced Technologies Rob Topol told ZDNet at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 in Barcelona. MWC 2019: Huawei Showcases Its 5G, SoftCOM AI Solutions Huawei is presenting its end-to-end 5G products and solutions at MWC 2019, such as simplified 5G sites, architecture, protocols, and operations & maintenance (O&M).

"There is no spoon," says the little boy in The Matrix. "… you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, but only yourself." Armed with that nugget of wisdom, Neo begins his journey to change the nature of reality, by changing himself. When people have tried to explain the concept of blockchain, they have often stated that it allows for the decentralization of organizations and that it has the technological power to remove the centralized party. In other words, in blockchain-enabled networks: there is no decision-maker, no one to lead, no one to request access from, no one to control and no one to steer the evolution of these networks.

Chinese technology company Huawei has not had particularly good press recently. Countries including Australia have excluded it from construction of a 5G network, while the U.S. Justice Department recently laid criminal charges against the firm and its chief financial officer. It is understandable that in the midst of such woes, one might turn toward something harmless like classical music to wallow in sophisticated creativity, cultural tradition, and human mystery. In time for the Year of the Pig, Huawei recently presented a completion of Franz Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" in performance at London's Cadogan Hall. It was accomplished by "pairing technological innovations of Huawei's artificial intelligence" from its smartphone with the human expertise of film composer Lucas Cantor. What was the division of labor here?

We spoke to Ericsson IoT Head Jeff Travers during MWC 2019 about where the industry is heading and how emerging technologies are opening new possibilities. A running theme of this year's event was how technologies such as the IoT, 5G, AI, and blockchain are converging in powerful ways. Last year was a lot of talk about their potential, this year we're seeing more actual deployments. Transportation is one area where the IoT is having a major impact. The morning of our interview, Ericsson announced it's helped to build a '5G smart harbour' at the Port of Qingdao in partnership with China Unicom.

Now that it's here, all anyone can talk about are foldable phones. The next-generation network technology promises blazing speeds, smooth and stable connections and new possibilities for VR, self-driving cars and robotics. This being the big new thing for the mobile industry, all the players -- from phone makers and infrastructure vendors to chipmakers and wireless carriers -- have been desperate to demonstrate how ready they are. But at Mobile World Congress, there was far more buzz about the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X than about the early 5G devices being shown off. The lack of attention paid to all the 5G phones makes you wonder whether all the racing and chest-beating was truly necessary, and serves as a reminder that the next-generation wireless technology is still in its early days. Part of the problem is that 5G being "here" doesn't necessarily mean it's here for you.

Two divisions of the Chinese networking giant Huawei pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that it stole trade secrets from America's third-largest wireless carrier, T-Mobile, in a bid to copy its technology. In federal court in Seattle, Huawei -- one of the world's biggest wireless equipment makers -- said it was not guilty of committing trade secret theft, nor of conspiring to hide such a plan. The case involves Huawei Device Co., Ltd. and Huawei Device USA. A jury trial has been set for March 2, 2020, before Chief Judge Ricardo S. Martinez of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The pleas follow a 10-count indictment unsealed last month alleging in part that the Huawei divisions tried to collect information about a robotic arm that T-Mobile used to simulate human touch on its smartphones.

New machine learning approach could give a big boost to the efficiency of optical networks February 25, 2019, Optical Society of America Credit: CC0 Public Domain New work leveraging machine learning could increase the efficiency of optical telecommunications networks. As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, fiber optic cables offer the ability to transmit more data over longer distances compared to traditional copper wires. Optical Transport Networks (OTNs) have emerged as a solution for packaging data in fiber optic cables, and improvements stand to make them more cost-effective. A group of researchers from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona and the telecom company Huawei have retooled an artificial intelligence technique used for chess and self-driving cars to make OTNs run more efficiently. They will present their research at the upcoming Optical Fiber Conference and Exposition, to be held 3-7 March in San Diego, California, USA.

The Chinese tech giant Huawei has pleaded not guilty to U.S. charges that it stole trade secrets from T-Mobile. A company representative entered the pleas Thursday in federal court in Seattle, where a 10-count indictment was unsealed in January. Charges include conspiracy to steal trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors say Huawei stole the technology behind a robotic device that Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile used to test smartphones. Huawei has also been charged in New York with bank fraud and sanctions violations.