European telcos and internet companies are acting to help Ukraine after the Russian invasion, they said this week. EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton discussed the need to counter Russian state-sponsored disinformation with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who confirmed the company won't comply with new Russian obligations to stream 20 federal TV stations, according to a European Commission readout of the Tuesday call. The European Telecommunications Network Operators Association said Monday its members "are rolling out measures to ease communications and support people in distress." Measures so far include free international calls to Ukraine; free Wi-Fi in refugee camps; and distribution of SIM cards to refugees arriving in neighboring countries. For the time being, the war isn't likely to have a significant impact on European telcos or ISPs, emailed telecom consultant Innocenzo Genna: COVID-19 has been much more disruptive because of the increased traffic and the disruption of maintenance/repair supply chains. But he told us some European telecom operators may now face uncertainties when dealing with Russian clients such as carriers, banks and corporations: Can they continue to trade with them? Will the payment system supporting contracts continue? Is there an embargo on the horizon? The most important concern now is cyberwarfare, Genna said. Attacks may become more frequent and Russia itself is under attack by Anonymous. Western companies are realizing they may have a digital sovereignty problem with Russian services and products: The most controversial are Telegram (messaging) and Kaspersky (anti-filter). The latter, commonly used by European companies and public bodies, now risks being banned, he said. An ICANN spokesperson confirmed it received a letter from Ukraine asking it to ban Russia from the domain name system. The letter wasn't available on the ICANN website.

China’s Hikvision told the FCC it shouldn’t be included on the agency’s “covered list” of equipment that threatens U.S. networks, in a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-232. The company’s video surveillance equipment doesn’t pose “any unique or material cybersecurity threat either to the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure or to American businesses or end users,” Hikvision said: “Its equipment can be, and frequently is, set up in configurations that are not connected to the Internet or any outside network, and thus are protected against the possibility of inbound cybersecurity attacks because there is no point of entry from which a third party could attempt to access the equipment, and are also protected against outbound data transmission because the system is not connected to any outside network.”

The U.K. Office of Communications proposed tighter rules against robocalls and texts. Nearly 45 million people were targeted by spoof calls and texts last summer, and almost a million of them fell for the scammers' instructions, it said Wednesday. Ofcom works with phone companies to help them block calls that imitate the numbers of legitimate organizations such as banks and government offices, but "fraudsters quickly adapt to changing circumstances and technology." The regulator proposed requiring all phone networks involved in transmitting a call to block clearly spoofed numbers, plus new guidance to help companies stop scammers from accessing valid phone numbers: Among other things, they will have to run "know your customer" checks on business customers. Ofcom is also examining how technology can help prevent scam calls at the source. For calls originating in the U.K., for example, the network from which the call is made would have to "authenticate" the caller's ID information before connecting the call, a requirement that "should be achievable" when the country's transition to digital landlines is complete.

Data is an "untapped potential," the European Commission said Wednesday. As part of its European strategy for data, it floated new rules for use of data, saying its volume has grown from 33 zettabytes generated in 2018 to 175 zettabytes expected in 2025. The Data Act will address the legal, economic and technical issues causing its under-usage, the EC said. The rules will make more data available for reuse and are expected to create 270 billion euros ($306 billion) additional GDP by 2028. Proposals include measures to allow users of connected devices to gain access to the data generated by them, often harvested exclusively by manufacturers, and to share it with third parties to provide after-market services such as predictive maintenance; and provisions to rebalance the negotiating power for small and mid-sized enterprises by preventing abuse of contract imbalances in data-sharing agreements. It provides for ways for public sector bodies to access and use data held by the private sector when needed for exceptional circumstances such as public emergencies, and it allows customers to switch between different cloud data-processing services providers while safeguarding against unlawful data transfer. The proposal is "well-intended but in need of improvements," said the Computer & Communications Industry Association. It "will serve the EU's digital ambitions if it protects confidential business information, treats all companies equally, and avoids creating new data flow restrictions," said Public Policy Director Alexandre Roure. The proposal is "essential to consumers," said the European Consumer Organisation: People originate much of the data via their use of connected devices and digital services and must be able to control how and with whom their data is shared.

Comments are due March 4 on World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee draft recommendations it adopted last week and on NTIA recommendations (see 2202150030), said an FCC International Bureau docket 16-185 public notice Tuesday. The bureau said it "generally support[s]" most of the committee draft recommendations.

China Unicom Americas (CUA) asked the FCC to stay an order, approved 4-0 in January (see 2201270030), revoking the company’s Section 214 authority to operate in the U.S. “The Revocation Order provides no valid grounds for revoking CUA’s long-standing section 214 authorizations to provide domestic and international services in the United States,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-110: “Since the Commission found CUA to be qualified to hold these authorizations nearly two decades ago, CUA has continued to comply with Commission regulations and provide high-quality services to its U.S. customers.”

The Commerce Department should expand an exemption to allow U.S. companies to participate in standards-setting bodies that have members designated on the Entity List, the Information Technology Industry Council said in a set of recommendations to the Biden administration. If the exemption isn’t expanded, the U.S. will risk ceding further “ground, influence, and leadership to foreign competitors” in international technology standards development, ITI said Thursday. ITI also urged the administration to shift its China trade policy to better pressure the government on important trade issues. “Recent overreliance and expanded use of export controls, tariffs, and policies misdirected at routine technical standards development have hurt U.S. workers, consumers, and companies,” ITI said. “The Administration should amend policies that have not achieved their goals and even impeded U.S. innovation and leadership.”

Huawei is making strong inroads throughout Latin America despite U.S. national security concerns, blogged Silvia Elaluf-Calderwood of Strand Consult, Monday. U.S. demands “to restrict Huawei because of security concerns have fallen on deaf ears for most policymakers in Latin America,” she said. Elaluf-Calderwood warned that Huawei is growing its cloud and data business beyond telecom networks. “By over focusing on its most popular and current innovation 5G, the US failed to consider the role of unexpected competitors in different but important fields, like Huawei in clouds and data centres,” she said: “U.S. efforts to safeguard 5G mean little if Huawei stores and processes the data.”

Noting Chinese complaints about close calls between its space station and SpaceX satellites (see 2112270053), the U.S. told the U.N. secretary-general that Space Command doesn't think there was a significant probability of collision. In a letter dated Jan. 28 and publicly posted this week, the U.S. said if there had been a significant collision probability, it would have given China a close-approach notification, but in this case such emergency notifications "weren't warranted." The U.S. said as far as it knows, China never tried to contact SpaceCommand, SpaceX or any other U.S. entity to share information or concerns before lodging the complaint with the U.N. The U.S. urged "efficient and timely sharing of information and coordination" to reduce the risk of collision between U.S. space objects and human spaceflight activities of other nations.

The FCC posted an order, approved 4-0 last week (see 2201270030), revoking China Unicom Americas' Section 214 authority to operate in the U.S. “Given the changed national security environment with respect to China since the Commission authorized CUA to provide telecommunications services in the United States, we find that CUA’s ties to the Chinese government -- together with Chinese laws obligating CUA and its direct and indirect parent entities to cooperate with requests by the Chinese government -- pose a clear and imminent threat to the security of the United States due to CUA’s access to U.S. telecommunications infrastructure,” said the docket 20-110 order, listed in Thursday’s Daily Digest.