“Keeping Britain connected” is the “biggest contribution” Huawei can make in the U.K’s effort to defeat COVID-19, said Vice President Victor Zhang in an “open letter” Monday. “Despite this, there has been groundless criticism from some about Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G rollout,” he said. “Disrupting our involvement in the 5G rollout would do Britain a disservice.” Once the crisis passes, “we look forward to continuing to play our role as a key partner in improving the networks, benefiting the economy and ultimately everyone in the UK, ending the postcode lottery of good connectivity,” he said. “Right now, by keeping Britain online, we are able to play our part in helping the country through this difficult period.”

Rivals Apple and Google are cooperating to develop COVID-19 contact-tracing through smartphone apps that will be interoperable between their two operating systems, they said Friday. It's to help governments and health agencies “reduce the spread of the virus, with user privacy and security central to the design,” they said. Both companies will launch application programming interfaces next month that using apps from public health authorities, available for free downloads at the App Store and Google Play. They will work in coming months “to enable a broader Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform by building this functionality into the underlying platforms,” they said. “This is a more robust solution than an API and would allow more individuals to participate.” An Oxford University study last month advocates apps linked to a central server as a speedier way to do contact tracing than manual tracing (see 2003310016). Apple and Google said the service would incorporate several privacy safeguards, including requiring user opt-in. But no contact-tracing apps can be effective “if people don’t trust them,” said Jennifer Granick, ACLU surveillance and cybersecurity counsel. “People will only trust these systems if they protect privacy, remain voluntary, and store data on an individual's device, not a centralized repository.” Though the Apple and Google approach “appears to mitigate the worst privacy and centralization risks,” privacy advocates will “remain vigilant” to be sure any contact-tracing app “remains voluntary and decentralized,” said Granick. The Trump administration’s reported plan to create a COVID-19 data surveillance program with healthcare and tech companies lacks transparency, Democratic lawmakers wrote the White House Friday (see 2004100061).

World Wrestling Entertainment's annual meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday will consist of starting the meeting and then immediately ending it, the cable programmer said. It cited "rapidly evolving public health concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and governmental actions."

The FCC Public Safety Bureau gave New York City special temporary authority to use T-band spectrum to expand the fire department’s radio capacity and coverage. It helps the communications system "not become overwhelmed and ... work smoothly,” Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday.

Special temporary authority and emergency waiver requests due to COVID-19 not filed “in the first instance” in the universal licensing system “may include a requirement that the applicant file a subsequent request in ULS within 10 days, or file a request for waiver in ULS,” said a Friday FCC Public Safety Bureau public notice.

The FCC Wireless Bureau gave AT&T permission to deploy two towers on an emergency basis at a temporary COVID-19 hospital the Army Corps of Engineers is building in Milwaukee at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. Friday's OK expedites environmental review for the towers that also are for use by FirstNet.

Pay for Wi-Fi hot spots and other devices for students through the California Advanced Services Fund, commented the state Education Department Thursday to the California Public Utilities Commission. U.S. E-rate doesn’t cover that, Ed said. The department would apply and disseminate devices to students through county education offices, it said in docket R.12-10-012. Others supported rolling application deadlines. CalTel and other small rural LECs urged the same for infrastructure. “This will allow providers to assess areas of need in light of evolving information and react to changing broadband usage patterns brought on by the statewide ‘shelter-in-place’ order,” the small telcos said. The California Cable & Telecommunications Association isn’t against rolling deadlines if limited to addressing COVID-19 and opposes “wholesale changes to the CASF program made under pressure during a [COVID-19] crisis.” Streamline procedures for awarding and administering CASF infrastructure grants, commented AT&T. GeoLinks sought increased upfront costs to expedite projects. Fund public housing deployment, said San Francisco. The Electronic Frontier Foundation urged sought network performance and outage data to analyze “why ISPs have seemingly yielded wildly different results across the state when it comes to delivering broadband access during the pandemic.” Fiber seems to best absorb increased demand, EFF said. Consumer and rural advocates seek changes (see 2004090056).

MVPDs are reporting skyrocketing streaming usage and internet video consumption due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, said Leichtman Research Group Thursday. Comcast's peak traffic rose 32% at the end of March vs. the beginning of the month, with a 38% increase in online video consumption. Its linear video consumption grew four hours to 64 hours weekly, and VOD hit record highs, up 25%. AT&T reported core network traffic rose 25% April 2 vs. a similar day at the end of February. Snapchat reported that time spent on video and voice calling grew by more than 50% late February-late March.

Artificial intelligence companies are seeking ways to bridge gaps between consumers and information sources and doctors and patients during the health crisis. UneeQ went live Monday with "Sophie," a “digital human” tasked with answering questions via smartphone or computer. When COVID-19 began to spread globally, information about the virus was “overwhelming,” said Tyler Merritt, vice president-platform development. Sophie's data comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She's “statically programmed” to say a vaccine isn’t yet available for COVID-19. When a question is asked, she looks into the CDC database and “tries to find a match,” Merritt said. UneeQ is working with IBM. Medsphere Systems added a telehealth component to the ChartLogic electronic health record. Clinicians can launch video rooms, said the company.

Companies are looking to add customers amid surging virtual conferencing demand, we found this week. The new target audience is work from home, which now has its own hashtag and abbreviation: WFH. Video monitor maker ViewSonic announced availability of myViewBoard Clips. The ecosystem is available to educators who can access more than 2 million licensed educational videos, said the company. Key Digital wants to “build a sense of normalcy" within mandatory teleconferencing. It’s pitching its professional USB camera. It works with software including Zoom, Skype, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams, RingCentral and Google Hangouts. Nearly a fifth of U.S. households used video and conference call platforms over the past week, up 7 points from March 27-29, said a CTA survey. Seventy percent used a streaming or download service, up from 66%. Household use of online education courses rose 4 points to 13% as more kids practiced distance learning. Other activities include virtual birthday parties, happy hours and game nights, said CTA Research Director Lesley Rohrbaugh. As the use of video conferencing software skyrockets, hackers have followed. Zoom’s privacy and security are under scrutiny. (See reports including in this and in the previous two issues.)