Logitech rode the COVID-19 stay-at-home wave in fiscal Q1 ended June 30, posting a 25% year-on-year sales hike to $792 million, it said Monday. Sales of video conferencing equipment soared 70% to $130 million; webcam revenue jumped 116% to $60.9 million. It's adding capacity to meet demand for webcams to overcome component shortages resulting from factory shutdowns in Asia, said CEO Bracken Darrell on a call (see that and other materials here). The company expects current quarter supply to improve, though Darrell expects the “underlying market tailwind to continue for some time.” Logitech raised its fiscal 2021 outlook from mid-single digits to 10%-13%, but Darrell said: “COVID shutdowns and a related economic slowdown will likely create uncertainty in the quarters, and perhaps even the year to come." Among trends the CEO cited are video calls replacing audio calls, esports that will “become bigger than conventional sports, and the “billions” creating content as movie theaters and live entertainment venues are closed. Some trends were underway, said Darrell, citing work-at-home Fridays, the popularity of esports and creators posting online in “democratization” of content. “Video everywhere” seemed like a long way off when Logitech identified it as a company direction several years ago, he said: “Because of COVID-19, video calls now, for most people, have simply exploded.” Trends will continue post-pandemic, he maintained, citing Siemens saying last week it will let its 140,000 employees “work from anywhere” two or three days a week.

Internet traffic at content delivery provider Limelight Networks reached “record levels” in Q2 as global economies locked down for the pandemic, said CEO Bob Lento on a Monday investor call. Cisco expects 26% traffic growth this year, including 35% growth in internet video traffic, he said: “We’re exceeding that.” Amid COVID-19's “increased global reliance” on the internet and content delivery, Limelight had “good traction” with VOD customers and “some live events are starting to return,” said Lento. Limelight’s “participation” in the April Peacock launch to Comcast subscribers and the May debut of HBO Max helped drive higher traffic in Q2, he said. Expanding network capacity is Limelight’s top “strategic imperative,” said Lento. Its goal entering 2020 was to achieve 100 terabits per second of capacity, he said. “We expect to meet or exceed that goal even while having experienced some supply chain issues and travel and operational restrictions resulting from COVID-19.” Limelight upgraded 2020 revenue guidance to $230 million-$240 million from $225 million-$235 million in the April forecast “despite the continued uncertainty of where this pandemic takes us,” said Chief Financial Officer Daniel Boncel. There are “more unknowns than knowns” about the pandemic and its economic impact, said Lento. “We don’t know what the future holds in terms of the spread and severity of the COVID-19 virus and its effect on the lifestyles of people around the world.” No single livestreaming event like the NFL is “that material from a revenue perspective,” said Lento. “But when you string them all together all over the world every day, it is a material part of our business and right now that was zero in Q2 or pretty close to it.” The stock closed 8.6% lower Tuesday at $6.99.

Amazon began additional checks for certifying Alexa’s voice-control capabilities, or skills, a spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. In a presentation before the FTC that day, Clemson University Graduate Research Assistant Christin Wilson described Alexa’s certification process as “improper and disorganized." The agency held PrivacyCon, a conference with researchers meant to help identify consumer risks and better target enforcement efforts, Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith said.

Private LTE and the citizens broadband radio service won’t be a major factor for in-building connectivity for years to come, speakers warned during the third installment Tuesday of Connect (X), the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s virtual trade show. The FCC is to start an auction Thursday of priority access licenses (see 2007200049).

COVID-19 amplified the need to address broadband gaps, said members of NARUC’s broadband task force in interviews Tuesday. Cable, wireline and wireless networks are holding up to the surge in traffic during the pandemic, but industry agrees with policymakers on the heightened need to expand access, NCTA, CTIA and USTelecom panelists told state regulators' virtual summer meeting.

The FCC regulatory fee process “does not pass muster under the Administrative Procedure Act and raises serious constitutional questions,” said NAB in calls with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and staff from the Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director, per a filing posted Monday in docket 20-105. “The FCC’s regulatory fee process remains a frustrating, impenetrable exercise despite repeated calls for more transparency and justification of how the fees are calculated." Freeze regulatory fees at 2019 levels, “because there has been no increase in the amount that the Commission is required to collect for FY2020” and because of COVID-19, NAB said. “These are extraordinary times that more than justify a slight deviation from the Commission’s usual approach to regulatory fees,” it said. “The pandemic has devastated many industries, none more than radio.” The group suggested simplified information collection and streamlined processes for hardship waivers to provide fee relief.

The FCC Wireline Bureau granted a limited waiver of performance testing requirements for Connect America Fund phase II award recipients choosing a seventh year of support, in an order in Monday's Daily Digest. They can extend pretesting through this year's third and fourth quarters. The FCC recognized installing testing equipment in subscriber homes is more difficult due to COVID-19.

Samsung is gearing up for Galaxy Unpacked, its annual summer mobile launch event. The Aug. 5 reveal is the first to be broadcast live from South Korea. New York was Samsung's pre-COVID locale of choice for such events. Innovation, collaboration and mobile agility are Samsung's top priorities in the new era it's calling the “Next Normal,” blogged Mobile Communications Business President TM Roh Monday. He cited roles mobile tech has played during the pandemic in distance learning, at-home fitness and online concerts. Samsung plans to bow five new “power devices” next month, said the executive, referencing handsets, hearables and wrist-worn products. Next-generation mobile solutions will have features that improve video-chat technology and help frontline workers “stay safe on the job,” he said. Roh referenced more personal, intelligent, useful and secure technology and a next-generation of foldable phones. The “wide range” of Galaxy 5G devices, available in more markets, will enable experiences “we can’t even imagine yet.” Samsung is continuing to collaborate with partners Google, Microsoft, Netflix and Spotify, and expanded its relationship with Microsoft so Galaxy smartphones and Windows PCs can share messages, photos and calendar reminders in real time, Roh said. Samsung will expand the Microsoft relationship through a gaming partnership with Xbox, he said.

Brands that used technology to transfer the in-store experience online more smoothly during the pandemic “reaped the rewards of customer loyalty,” reported KPMG Monday. It canvassed 11,000 U.S. consumers online. "With the move to online accelerating due to COVID-19, the nature of the relationship between brands and their customers has changed, bringing the need for commercial cadence to the forefront,” said KPMG. Respondents voted USAA their top brand, Costco No. 7. No tech brands made the top 10.

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) in “consumer-focused” sectors appear to “have been hit hardest” in the global COVID-19 pandemic, said a Facebook report co-authored with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank. They canvassed more than 30,000 Facebook-member owners, managers and employees in 50 countries late May, finding 54% of consumer-focused SMBs were shuttered between January and May, compared with 26% of SMBs at large that closed down. Micro-businesses, defined as SMBs owned and operated by a single individual, closed “to a greater extent than those with multiple employees,” it said. “Female-led SMBs have been disproportionately impacted,” said the report. They were seven percentage points “more likely to be closed” than their male-owned counterparts, it said. A “greater proportion of female business leaders operate micro-businesses with no employees” by a margin of 37% to 24%, it said. Female-led SMBs “are also concentrated in the sectors that have been most affected by lockdown measures,” it said.