The coronavirus pandemic could change the relationship between governments and platforms, said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton on a Monday virtual debate. Everyone is trying to figure out the situation, which requires more public-private sector cooperation, said Zuckerberg. Breton actively contacted platforms to see how they could help fight COVID-19 disinformation and keep networks running, Zuckerberg said. Facebook and others worked quickly to reduce bandwidth to ensure people could stay connected. Breton said he has learned it's important to "anticipate." Telecom networks weren't designed for a situation where everyone was living, working and learning at home. But frank discussions with Facebook, Netflix and other platforms resulted in fast reaction as both parties worked to cope. Asked how they see their respective roles in the pandemic exit and recovery stages, Breton said Europe is focused on a "green deal" and on teleworking. Ensuring people have access to accurate information in the health crisis is important, said Zuckerberg. The EU learned "we have to invent together our future," said Breton. Platforms must learn to cooperate with administrations, he said: It's not governments that should adapt to platforms but the reverse. The European Commission is working on prior regulation of platforms as it has enacted for telcos, he said: The less regulation needed the better, but if platforms and governments can't find a way to cooperate, the EC "will regulate, of course." Asked about the need for a digital deal between governments and platforms, Zuckerberg advocated a broader partnership, saying platforms shouldn't be left to govern themselves, and such a deal is "inevitable," including regulation. But he voiced concern about whose regulatory framework will win globally. Countries like China have different values from democratic nations, and some other governments are considering this model, with localized data and less respect for human rights. That model is dangerous, he said; the best antidote is regulation that comes from democracies. The right kind of framework requires clear and strong values, which Europe has, said Breton. Platforms must understand those values to help build a new form of governance, which won't happen overnight, he said.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., urged colleagues to “refuse meetings with any representatives of Chinese companies,” including telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE and app TikTok. The Commerce Department said Friday it’s increasing restrictions on foreign-made chips exported to and made by Huawei. The department also doesn’t plan to issue another temporary general license extension for the Chinese telecom gearmaker after its latest 90-day renewal expires Aug. 13 (see 2005150027). Lawmakers should refuse meetings with Chinese companies “regardless of whether they are state owned or claim to be privately run entities, and to exercise caution when accepting meetings with Chinese officials,” Blackburn said in a letter: The ban “is a long overdue sanction” after an existing ban on sales of Huawei and ZTE equipment to federal agencies and a block on TikTok’s use on government-issues devices of military and some federal personnel. The companies’ “representatives likewise cannot be trusted to lobby members of Congress with the best of U.S. intentions in mind,” she said: “Blacklisting China in Congress mirrors punitive steps the executive branch has already taken. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States routinely blocks Chinese acquisitions of American companies to guard against national security risks,” while Commerce “blacklists Chinese companies that enable human rights abuses or act contrary to U.S. foreign policy or national security.” Blackburn is among the lawmakers who helped shape anti-Huawei/ZTE legislation (see 1907220053).

China Unicom Americas wants 30 more days, until June 23, to respond to an FCC show cause order. The agency is considering revoking authorizations of four companies with ties to China, including CUA (see 2004240046). “The Order requires CUA’s response to address 16 specific items,” the company said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-110: “Many of these requests seek detailed information and explanations.” China Telecom Americas also requested till June 23. The International Bureau extended that filing deadline Thursday to June 8.

Operating profit in Sony Electronics Products & Solutions took an estimated 35.1 billion yen ($327.8 million) hit from COVID-19 in the fiscal year ended March 31. “Of all our businesses, we expect the EP&S segment to be impacted the most from the coronavirus,” said Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki in a virtual Tokyo briefing Wednesday. The stock's American depositary receipts closed down 4.3% at $62.78. Components suppliers in Malaysia and the Philippines “reduced their operations, causing a delay in the production of some of our products due to component shortages,” said Totoki. “On the demand side, due to the closure and shutdown of retail stores globally, retail sales have decreased significantly. The severity of the impact on a geographical basis is changing frequently, but deterioration of market conditions in Europe is currently the most severe.” EP&S sales for the year declined 14% to 1.99 trillion yen ($18.6 billion), said Totoki. Sony sold 3.2 million smartphones for the year, down about half from a year earlier. Q4 sales were 400,000 handsets. Market share leader Samsung sold 295 million smartphones in 2019.

China Unicom Americas (CUA) is a separate legal entity following U.S. laws, and authorizations shouldn’t be revoked because of broader international concerns, China Unicom Chairman-CEO Wang Xiaochu said in a letter to the five FCC commissioners. All subsidiaries “must operate in compliance with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate,” Wang said in a filing posted Tuesday in FCC docket 20-110. The FCC is considering revoking the authorizations of four companies with ties to China, including CUA (see 2004240046).

The U.S. needs a clearer strategy for leading 5G and artificial intelligence standards setting to counter China’s growing tech leadership, technology experts said. The Trump administration should define a strategy and work with allies to set global standards, the experts said, or risk forcing its companies out of global markets because of restrictions placed on China. “We're behind. I can't say it enough to U.S. legislators,” said Nicol Turner Lee, a Brookings Institution fellow, speaking during a Friday webinar hosted by the think tank. “That should be disconcerting to companies who will be told by the U.S. that they cannot do business [in China] even though there are other European companies that can.” At the center of the issue is China’s dominant presence at global standards setting bodies for emerging tech, said Sheena Chestnut Greitens, nonresident Brookings fellow. International bodies are seeing more rules written by Chinese companies, she said. “About half of the standards that [China has] proposed have been adopted by the U.N. as the global standard,” Greitens said, noting those standards include facial recognition technology. U.S. restrictions on Huawei blocked the U.S. from participating in bodies in which the company is a member, although the Commerce Department drafted a rule to address the ability of U.S. companies to participate in 5G bodies (see 2004290066). The White House declined to comment Monday, referring us to the State Department Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. The bureau wouldn't provide an on-the-record comment.

NTIA is seeking comments and recommendations on priorities that best advance international communications and information policies at ITU, as the U.S. develops proposals and positions for the 2020 World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly. WTSA-20 will be in Hyderabad, India, Nov. 17-20. NTIA said it’s working with the State Department, which is “leading and coordinating” the preparation process. Comments are due June 8 in docket 200504–0126, said Friday's Federal Register. NTIA’s “principles and objectives” for WTSA-2020 align with the Thump administration’s 2017 national security strategy, “which affirmed that ‘the United States will advocate for open, interoperable communications, with minimal barriers to the global exchange of information and services,'" NTIA said. The U.S. is focused on furthering a multistakeholder approach to internet policy and increasing organizational effectiveness and reducing duplication at ITU, NTIA said. Other U.S. goals include increasing U.S. presence and influence in the ITU-telecom (ITU-T) sector and improving ITU-T processes, procedures and transparency, NTIA said.

Chinese smartphone imports to the U.S. recovered somewhat in March after setting record lows in February, said Census Bureau data accessed Wednesday through the International Trade Commission. China’s supply chain was in lockdown for much of February during the COVID-19 outbreak. Factory production resumed in mid-February. U.S. importers sourced 7.16 million smartphones from China in March, up 23% from February, when the 5.81 million smartphones shipped to America was the lowest monthly Chinese volume since Customs and Border Protection began tracking the category in 2007. Chinese smartphone imports in March were 38% fewer than the 11.69 million handsets sent here in the same 2019 month. Q1 Chinese smartphone imports of 23.9 million were 37% below the volume in Q1 2019. Q1 smartphone imports from all countries declined 32% from a year earlier to 35.97 million handsets.

The FCC asked China Telecom Americas (CTA) for clarity on the company's motion for 30 extra days, until June 23, to respond to an April 24 show cause order (see 2004240046). Executive branch agencies, led by DOJ, recently recommended the FCC revoke CTA's U.S. authorizations for international telecom services. Asking for more time, the company said “in some cases, the scope of the information required to respond to the questions is unclear” and it's seeking clarity from the bureau chiefs involved, said Monday's letter by the International, Wireline and Enforcement bureaus: “We are taking the extension request under advisement pending receipt of any such clarification request.” The letter asks the company to respond by May 11. The carrier said in a filing posted Monday the FCC should disclose “any and all” Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act-related information “obtained, or derived information related to CTA in the Commission’s possession.”

The Commerce Department drafted a regulation on U.S. companies participating in 5G standards-setting bodies involving Huawei. The rule is being discussed internally, said Matt Borman, deputy assistant secretary for export administration, at the department’s Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Borman said the rule “will go a long way” toward addressing concerns from lawmakers and industry. Stakeholders said export controls hinder U.S. participation in standards-setting bodies, potentially ceding 5G leadership (see 2004100017). “That's what this draft reg is looking to get at,” Borman said Wednesday. “We certainly don’t want a situation where U.S. companies refrain from participating and then leave the standards field open to Huawei and other companies.” Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security is continuing to process license applications for exports to Huawei, Borman added. “There's still a review as to whether additional regulatory steps will be taken vis-a-vis Huawei,” he said. “Those are still kind of under review internally.”