The Broadband Forum embraced open source and standards development at a three-day meeting in Atlanta this week, it said in a news release Thursday. The forum includes major telecom companies from around the world including AT&T, Orange and Vodafone. At the meeting, the association said its board agreed the forum should “instigate new methods for rapid delivery of innovative software and standards for key use cases to the community of manufacturers, service providers and open-source organizations that replace traditional Standards Development Organization (SDO) approaches.” The forum plans to increase collaboration with industry groups developing open initiatives, including members and nonmembers, it said. “Perhaps the most important message is that while we have made significant strides towards 'agile, programmable and ultra-fast networks' in the last year, we need to dramatically extend and accelerate delivery of standards and software to enable the innovation the broadband industry needs,” forum CEO Robin Mersh said.

By December, the European Commission will have laid out all the legislative and nonlegislative proposals -- including a second copyright package, a public-private cybersecurity partnership, a telecom review, and free flow of nonpersonal data within the European Union, among other issues -- that it committed to when the digital single market (DSM) strategy was released a year ago, said Andrea Glorioso, counselor for the digital economy with the EU delegation to the U.S. He gave a public overview about the progress in developing the DSM, including what has been proposed over the past six months (see 1605240018, 1602020036 and 1509240053). On the free flow of nonpersonal data, he said EU officials are assessing how they should deal with the huge amount of data generated by the IoT and sensors that aren't personal in nature and should be able to flow freely within the internal market. He said there's "anecdotal and more than anecdotal evidence" regarding national obstacles to that free data flow. For example, he said weather data is a potential source of innovation but some member states are applying a "bizarre interpretation" that makes it more difficult to facilitate such data flows. Glorioso reviewed a host of proposals that have been laid out already, including allocating the 700 MHz band for mobile internet use, providing more trust and security for personal data, creating research hubs similar to Silicon Valley and boosting e-commerce. All the proposals, he said, will be negotiated between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. The DSM strategy seeks to establish one set of rules for the online world across its 28 member countries. European officials have said that, as a result, consumers and businesses would have better access to digital goods and services across the continent and a larger economy with strong data protection standards.

The ULE Alliance, which promotes ULE technology as a standard for home wireless networks, said Wednesday that a Huawei-built ULE gateway, branded as Qivicon powered by Deutsche Telekom, received ULE certification. The tests were done at AT4 wireless, the official ULE testing and certification partner. Alliance members are eligible to certify ULE devices, and the application for certification is at www.ulealliance.org, it said.

The European Commission along with Facebook, Google's YouTube, Microsoft and Twitter unveiled a code of conduct to fight online hate speech Tuesday. Companies that sign up agree to review -- and possibly remove or “disable access to” -- illegal hate speech within 24 hours of being notified, the EC said in a news release. The companies will try to better work with civil society groups, which can help alert companies to content that could incite violence and hateful conduct, it said. The EC and tech companies share, "together with other platforms and social media companies, a collective responsibility and pride in promoting and facilitating freedom of expression throughout the online world," the release said: They understand "that the spread of illegal hate speech online not only negatively affects the groups or individuals that it targets, it also negatively impacts those who speak out for freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination in our open societies and has a chilling effect on the democratic discourse on online platforms." The EC and tech companies also will regularly assess the public commitments to the code of conduct, including its impact. Regular meetings will take place on how to promote transparency and spur counter and alternative narratives, the release said. But Access Now said in a news release the process to create the code was done "outside an accountable democratic framework" and "exploits unclear liability rules for online companies." It also risks freedom of expression since legal, but controversial content could be deleted, the civil society group said. "The ‘code of conduct’ downgrades the law to a second-class status, behind the ‘leading role’ of private companies that are being asked to arbitrarily implement their terms of service.”

The EU Commission should continue negotiating with the U.S. to fix "deficiencies" in the proposed Privacy Shield agreement (see 1602290003) for trans-Atlantic commercial data flows of European citizens, the European Parliament said in a nonlegislative resolution adopted Thursday. The resolution passed 501-119 with 31 abstentions, said a parliament news release. Privacy Shield is being evaluated by various European governmental entities since it was introduced in February. It's expected to be approved in June by the EC, likely to be followed by a court challenge of the agreement, which replaces the 2000 safe harbor deal. Some say Privacy Shield doesn't offer strong enough data protections or redress for EU citizens. The Parliament's resolution cites "deficiencies" including: U.S. government access to data transfer under the proposed agreement; potential for the collection of bulk data; lack of independence and authority for the proposed U.S. ombudsperson to handle complaints of EU citizens who believe their data was misused (see 1603110057); and complexity of the redress system for EU citizens. "The Privacy Shield framework gives EU member state's data protection agencies a prominent role in examining data protection claims and notes their power to suspend data transfers," Parliament's release said. "It also notes the obligation placed upon the US Department of Commerce to resolve such complaints."

Industry applauded an International Trade Commission report on the projected impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Wednesday's ITC report said the TPP would decrease the costs of moving goods within the agreement’s covered region, and bring modest gains to the U.S. economy over its first 15 years, but the deal also would exacerbate the U.S. trade deficit. Assuming TPP takes effect by the end of 2017, the report predicted real U.S. gross domestic product would rise by $42.7 billion (0.15 percent) over baseline projections, while overall exports would increase by $27.2 billion (1 percent) and $48.9 billion (1.1 percent), respectively, by 2032, according to a summary. "The ITC report is an important step forward in assessing the benefits of the TPP,” said CTA CEO Gary Shapiro. “In our increasingly connected world, international trade will become ever more important to the prosperity and success of American workers and businesses.” While CTA still wants to review the full ITC report, “it is already our assessment that the Administration should move the TPP forward and Congress should approve it this year,” he said. Telecommunications Industry Association CEO Scott Belcher said the report “underscores the importance of the trade agreement for strengthening the U.S. technology industry’s ability to generate high-paying jobs and for promoting borderless digital trade opportunities.” MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd said the report "reaffirms that the TPP will grow the workforce and economic activity of America’s creative sectors, and benefit the U.S. economy as a whole.” But trade unions and several Democrats in Congress said the TPP could kill jobs in several industries.

Liberty Global closed its acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications, a deal Liberty said was valued at about $7.4 billion on an enterprise value basis. CWC's business will be attributed to Liberty's Latin American and Caribbean (LiLAC) Group, creating "the leading consumer and business-to-business communications provider in the region," said a Liberty Global news release Monday. The combination serves 20 million video, voice, broadband and mobile subscribers, and is expected to generate more than $3.5 billion in annual revenue, it said. Almost all the countries with CWC-LiLAC Group operations are in the Caribbean basin, except Chile, it said. Mike Fries, Liberty Global CEO, said: "We are joining two high-growth businesses in a region that is both underpenetrated and underserved in broadband, mobile data and pay TV services."

Companies increasingly will limit supply chain relationships to suppliers that participate in authorized economic operator supply chain security programs, said industry members in Cancun at a World Customs Organization conference. James Lockett, Huawei head-trade facilitation, said Tuesday he expects AEO status to someday be a prerequisite for all the company's suppliers. While it's still too early to make that requirement, it seems to be where the company is headed, he said. AEO programs are voluntary supply chain security programs administered by customs regimes which can help speed up customs processing, and such arrangements are sometimes recognized by national governments.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) said it's “pleased” the G7 information and communications technology ministers agreed over the weekend in G7's "Charter for a Digitally Connected World" to a new global approach to ICT policy that focuses on promoting and protecting free cross-border data flows online. The G7 ministers also agreed to data localization laws and will promote effective cybersecurity and privacy policies. ITI, DigitalEurope and the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Association jointly recommended in February that G7 promote the free flow of data and oppose data localization. “By advancing these principles, G7 governments are well-positioned to shape ICT policy for our global economy and address pressing challenges that governments and industries face,” including “harmful data localization requirements that threaten to split the Internet, undermine innovation, and therefore inhibit the expansion and benefits of digital technologies,” said ITI Global Policy Director-Localization, Trade and Multilateral Affairs Ed Brzytwa in a Tuesday blog post. The G7's decision to promote free data flows “has effectively set the stage” for those issues to factor into larger G20 meetings set to occur in Ise-Shima, Japan, in May, and in Hangzhou, China, in September, Brzytwa said.

No Latin American country hit the halfway mark on the ITU’s recommendation that they allocate 1,300 MHz of spectrum for mobile broadband in 2015, 5G Americas said in a report released Tuesday. Four countries were above 30 percent of the target, the group said: Argentina at 31 percent; Brazil, 41.7 percent; Chile, 35.8 percent; and Nicaragua, 32.3 percent. El Salvador (16 percent), Guatemala (16.2 percent) and Panama (16.9 percent) were below 20 percent, 5G Americas said. “The lack of sufficient spectrum for the development of mobile services has a negative impact on both consumers, who are deprived of innovative services with optimum performance, and the telecommunications industry, whose growth potential is limited,” said José Otero, director-Latin America and the Caribbean for 5G Americas, in a news release. “Spectrum frequencies are necessary for technological development to materialize in the way of services that benefit society by meeting the growing need for broadband, a key element in the economic progress of communities. This document reveals that more internationally harmonized spectrum is needed throughout the region.” At the end of 2015, the 850 MHz band was the only band allocated for broadband throughout the region, 5G Americas said. Meanwhile, 14 markets had allocated the AWS 1.7/2.1 GHz bands for mobile broadband, and five, the 2.5 GHz band, the group said.