Coronavirus: Vodafone and TalkTalk report surge in internet use

BBC

Vodafone has said it is experiencing a 30% rise in internet traffic across its UK fixed-line and mobile networks.

More people are working from home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, putting more demand on all networks.

TalkTalk, another internet provider, said that its daytime network traffic had risen 20% since Monday.

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China Mobile hastens 5G rollout amid virus heat

Nikkei

China Mobile on Thursday signaled plans to expedite the rollout of its fifth-generation telecommunications network, looking past the immediate impact from the new coronavirus outbreak, which has weighed on subscriber growth and the usage of its services.

Yang Jie, chairman of the world’s largest mobile services company by subscribers, said on a conference call that the company’s new mobile customers fell by 7.25 million in February from a year ago, while the growth in new broadband customers also weakened.

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African nations back mobile money in virus battle

Mobile World Live

Several major mobile money markets in Africa joined Kenya in slashing service fees and upping transaction limits in an attempt to prevent the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus) on physical currency.

In separate statements the central banks of Ghana and Rwanda unveiled temporary measures to encourage the use of mobile money applicable to all service providers.

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Britain’s mobile networks hit with outages as millions work from home

Telegraph

Britain’s mobile networks have faced outages today as millions of workers across the country start to work from home.

O2, Three, Vodafone and EE each said their customers had been affected by a fault across their networks which left some users unable to make phone calls.

The companies said a joint meeting will now be held to discuss the issue to ensure it does not happen again.

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Location Data to Gauge Lockdowns Tests Europe’s Love of Privacy

Bloomberg

Officials in Austria and Italy are starting to use location data transmitted by mobile phones to determine the effectiveness of their coronavirus lockdowns.

Telekom Austria AG, the country’s biggest telecom network operator, is providing “anonymized data” to relevant authorities, according to a statement late Tuesday. The tracking technology, developed by Invenium Data Insights GmbH in Austria’s southern city of Graz, was previously used to analyze travel patterns.

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Nokia adds 5G to its Global IoT Network Grid

5G

IoT services around the world could see a substantial boost thanks to Nokia’s plans to augment its Worldwide Internet of Things Network Grid (also known as WING) with 5G capabilities. The hope is for its managed service to allow mobile phone networks and carriers to offer their customers global-scale 5G IoT services, all without needing to establish their own network themselves.

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India’s First 5G Testing Lab To Be Free For IoT Startups

Inc42

Internet of Things (IoT) platform Cavli Wireless, in partnership with Kerala-based Maker’s Village, is looking to set up India’s first 5G network testing lab to allow Indian startups and companies to test their products and solutions.

The platform is likely to be launched in the third quarter of 2020, ending September. Cavli Wireless has assured that the access to the 5G test network will be free of charge for Indian IoT startups, who are looking to develop solutions compliant with the global standards.

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Clinicians told they can use WhatsApp to share data in face of Covid-19

Digital Health

Clinicians have been told they can use messaging services like WhatsApp “where the benefits outweigh the risk” to share information about coronavirus, new NHSX guidance says.

The focus on sharing information needs to shift from “how you share it” to “what information you share and who you share it with” while the health services deals with Covid-19.

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