A few days ago, the Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications denied rumors of the link between the 5G technology and the spread of the contagious disease, COVID-19. At the same time, the institution announced that with the help of the 5G technology, the world could deal with the epidemic threat much faster, for example by implementing solutions based on artificial intelligence, which would relieve healthcare workers.

Groups of people with a negative attitude towards the development of the 5G technology maintain that radio waves have a bad impact on health and immunity, and can be used as a surveillance tool. However, there is no evidence that devastation of telecommunications towers is directly linked to these concerns as the perpetrators have not yet been caught.

This conspiracy theory has spread rapidly in social media. Keri Hilson, an American singer with 4.2 million Twitter followers, sent several tweets last month trying to connect the coronavirus to 5G. In early April, actor Woody Harrelson followed suit by linking the 5G development to the virus.

Academic centres and institutions of public trust quickly denied the rumors and launched an information campaign.

Among the speakers was NHS Medical Director Michael Gove who said that he is “outraged and disgusted” by people who claim that 5G masts are the real cause of the coronavirus outbreak.

– This story about 5G has no credence scientifically and is certainly a potential distraction, as is other such misinformation, from controlling the COVID-19 epidemic – said dr Jonathan M. Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health.

In response to widespread misinformation, social media and streaming services such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter will remove any posts that could potentially be misleading for the community.

Western European countries were initially rather cautious, mainly recommending certain behaviors, as opposed to Central and Eastern European countries which decided to implement the most restrictive measures almost immediately. In the following days, Western Europe also started to introduce lockdown measures, with the exception of Great Britain which stuck to the strategy of building herd immunity for a long time, as well as Belarus and Sweden that still haven’t adopted the most invasive control measures.

Most of the countries introduced the following measures:

• Declaration of a state of emergency
• Closing the borders
• Closing of schools and universities
• Ban on public gatherings
• Forced lockdown

Changes in the approach to reducing the number of infected people and flattening the disease curve had a significant impact on the mobility of residents of individual European countries.

Using the collected data, RFBENCHMARK decided to check to what extent it was possible to convince the inhabitants of selected European countries to stay in their place of residence and minimize social contacts. The analysis took into account the mobility rate, which made it possible to compare the behavior of application users one week before and during the current legal restrictions with regard to leaving the place of residence.

The greatest decrease in mobility was observed in Belgium. There, the average distance covered by users (measured by the RFBenchmark User path length indicator) decreased by 91.7%. Italians (89.1%) and French (80.7%) also reduced their mobility almost completely.

The situation is different in countries that delayed the introduction of legal provisions restricting movement in public spaces and have completely abandoned preventive measures. A good example is Belarus, where the average distance traveled by users increased by 3.6%. This is the only analyzed country in which no decrease in the mobility of residents was observed. Compared to the countries of Western and Central Europe, Ukraine recorded the smallest decrease in the mobility rate (21.4%).

In Poland, the decrease in mobility amounted to 57.1%. This result is above the median, although it is lower than in other Western European countries. This was due to high social discipline and gradually introduced restrictions, in contrast to other countries where many residents did not follow the warnings and recommendations to stay at home, and self-isolation had to be forced by radically introduced restrictions in public spaces.

The RFBenchmark Crowd Source indicator reflects this trend pretty well. The overall user path distance was reduced down to 50% of its previous state – comments Szymon Nowak, CEO of Notel Poland.

#StayAtHome and remote work impact on network performance

One of the consequences of the current pandemic is a massive shift of businesses to a remote work model. The effects are visible when comparing the performance of key indicators.

In recent weeks, we can particularly observe an increase in the interest in mobile game products and services, as well as other mobile applications that can be useful during self-isolation. The ongoing situation has also caused more and more people to spend their free time at home taking advantage of the functionality of their smartphones.

Global statistics on the average speed of downloading and uploading data on almost all continents began to fall with the imposition of restrictions on moving and leaving buildings. The only continent that has not seen any significant changes in mobile Internet speed so far is South America.

In Europe, the average data download speed has decreased from 19.6 Mbps in week 1 of 2020 to 13 Mbps in week 14. The characteristic graph collapse in week 10 coincides with the introduction of restrictions and calls to continue working from home. An almost identical trend can be observed in the statistics on the average data upload speed. In Europe, it fell from 11.1 Mbps to 8.1 Mbps with a sharp decline in week 10 of 2020.

Currently, ensuring adequate quality and stability of networks is a major challenge for telecommunication service providers.

Performance of Mobile Internet in Poland during lockdown

In Poland, there is a noticeable decrease in capacity, which affected all operators equally. In the period between week 11 and 13 there was an increase in the latency rate for most operators. The greatest increase was reported by Plus. In the same period, all operators reported decreases in the average data download and upload speed.

In the case of the average data download speed, the difference between week 1 and 13 was particularly noticeable for users of Plus (decrease from 15.16 Mbps to 5.87 Mbps), Play, and T-Mobile (decrease from 17.62 Mbps to 10.20 Mbps and from 16.45 Mbps to 9.11 Mbps, respectively). Orange recorded the smallest decrease (from 17.86 Mbps to 12.11 Mbps).

With regard to the average data upload speed, the lowest decrease was recorded by Play (from 14.97 Mbps to 9.396 Mbps) and Orange (from 15.1 Mbps to 9.982 Mbps). They were followed by T-Mobile (from 11.446 Mbps) and Plus (from 13.026 Mbps to 9.089 Mbps)

A significant decrease in mobility is also confirmed by the statistics from the application for tracking public transportation in real-time. Compared to previous months, they reported a decrease in data from passengers’ GPS devices by up to ⅔. This means that public transport services are used by far fewer people across Poland.

About RFBENCHMARK

RFBENCHMARK platform created by Notel Ltd, a leading European network performance efficiency company, allows you to check the quality of service provided by mobile network operators through access to the results of measurements carried out during independent tests (drive tests), as well as the use of a free application with the participation of all who have decided to support our project by installing the application and making their results public.

Our website also provides the latest news from the world of telecommunications and new technologies. We present new solutions and devices available on the market. We want to increase the awareness of our users and mobile network clients through publishing our results, articles and tests.

Uber announced that it has signed a partnership with a major French supermarket chain Carrefour to provide the citizens of Paris with express home delivery of selected grocery products, including basic foods, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.

The service will initially include 15 stores around the French capital, although Uber Eats says there are plans to roll it out nationwide in the next couple of weeks.

In Spain, the company has cooperated with the Galp service station brand to bring out a grocery delivery service including everyday foods, over the counter medicines, beverages, and cleaning supplies in 15 different cities across 8 provinces. In addition to the Uber Eats app, phone deliveries will also be made available to those that do not have access to a smartphone or Internet.

It is also worth mentioning that Glovo, the company’s main competitor, has already penned a partnership with Carrefour for grocery delivery services in various markets, including its home country of Spain. It might explain why Uber Eats chose a different partner in this particular market.

The third country Uber Eats has partnered with is Brazil, where the company signed a deal with a number of pharmacies, convenience stores, and pet shops in the Sao Paulo area.

This is not the company’s first venture into grocery delivery services, as it already has deals in place with Coles, an Australian supermarket chain, as well as Costcutter in the UK, giving access to 600 independent convenience stores via its app.

When asked about the likelihood of extending its grocery delivery services to other markets affected by the pandemic, Uber Eats responded by saying it’s currently exploring opportunities to cooperate with more supermarkets, convenience stores, and various retailers worldwide.

source: TechCrunch

Ekholm also emphasised the significance of effective communication during crisis situations and ensured that Ericsson is working to provide the best connectivity solutions based on regular customer feedback. The company predicts that in Q1 of 2020, the pandemic will have either limited impact on its customer base or will remain unaffected. According to Ericsson’s forecast, in the next quarter, the company should be able to meet demand by implementing specific measures to counteract the effects of the pandemic.

Ericsson further stated that all of its production plants were operating as normal. The company’s facility in China had been shut down until 9 February as a result of local government restrictions, but it was reopened the next day. The company’s leading production plants are located around the globe – in the US, Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Estonia, and Poland. Ericsson has already implemented the infrastructure to support remote working, which multiple employees are currently taking advantage of.

source: telecompaper