Stories from Abroad

We know from the experience in the United States that the fiber and cable networks providing from tens up to 1,000 Mbps speeds are holding up well as traffic has increased. The problem arises at DSL, a technology that allows several Mbps data connections over copper wires, often can only support 15 Mbps or less over short distances from a central office. Next-generation VDSL can provide up to 200 Mbps over distances of less than 200 yards from a central office.

Access Now released "Expanding connectivity to fight COVID-19: recommendations for governments and telcos", a series of recommendations for telecommunications companies and governments that could help prevent people from losing their connections and improve connectivity, drawing lessons from the experiences of users at risk around the world. The recommendations include:

President Donald Trump’s attack on the Voice of America, calling its content anti-American, has led to polarized battle lines that are common now on national issues. President Trump supporters say the US needs an unabashedly pro-American voice to rally world publics to its side.

CenturyLink’s Chief Technology Officer Andrew Dugan said that some European regulators asked two groups of internet content providers to slow down their traffic in response to increased network loads stemming from the COVID-19 crisis. The two groups of content providers are over-the-top (OTT) video companies and gaming companies. EU Industry Chief Thierry Breton had urged streaming platforms including Netflix and YouTube to cooperate with telecom providers and temporarily downgrade the quality of video streaming by offering standard definition rather than high definition video.

The Federal Communications Commission issued Orders to Show Cause against four companies that are ultimately subject to the ownership and control of the Chinese government: China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks, and ComNet. The Orders direct the companies to explain why the FCC should not start the process of revoking their domestic and international section authorizations enabling them to operate in the US.

In countries with fragile peace, such as South Sudan, or those under newly proposed ceasefires, such as Yemen, the need for communication is keen. The coronavirus is hampering communication such as women’s networks that have helped to disrupt terrorist cells, counter violent extremism, and resolve disputes through nonviolent mediation and negotiation. Government-enforced lockdowns in some countries have torn away this part of the social fabric. Governments may suspend some human rights during crisis and conflict. Not so humanitarian principles, which are specific to crisis and war.

The National Broadband Network (NBN) is the largest public infrastructure project in the history of Australia. The goal of the NBN is to provide Australians with broadband internet access by using a mix of technologies, ranging from fibre and hybrid fibre-coaxial to fixed wireless and satellite platforms. Although the NBN is a public project, one of the more vexing aspects of its evolution is its lack of data transparency. There is virtually no information on platform use or footprint distribution throughout the country.

Broadband is seen as a vector of economic growth and social development. In the developing world, mobile technologies are widely adopted and mobile broadband is progressively rolled-out with high expectations on its impact on the countries’ development. We highlight what the determinants of mobile broadband use are in four Sub-Saharan countries. Using micro-level data coming from household surveys over 5 years, from 2013 to 2017, we show that SIM card ownership and being part of an online social community has a strong positive impact on mobile broadband use.

In August 2019, India’s government revoked Kashmir’s special autonomous status and locked down the region, which has a population of around 8 million. The lockdown was followed by the democratic world’s longest internet shutdown, which was partially lifted on Jan. 25 when authorities restored access to 2G internet. But the denial of high-speed internet still prevents people from using banking apps, paying their bills, and accessing services—even forcing some out of their homes.

Trump administration officials sought to revoke federal licenses used by China Telecom to do business in the US as part of a broader campaign to curb global Chinese technology interests on national security grounds. A collection of federal agencies led by the Department of Justice and including the departments of Defense and Homeland Security asked the Federal Communications Commission to permanently revoke licenses the Chinese internet service provider’s US subsidiary has used since 2007 to act as a “common carrier” connecting domestic and overseas networks.