With tech industry eyes trained on the fate of the Jan. 6-9 CES 2021 in Las Vegas amid COVID-19, CTA with little fanfare announced Monday it was canceling all CES Asia shows. The pandemic forced the mid-March cancellation of the 2020 CES Asia that was set for June 10-12 in Shanghai (see 2003110036). “We evaluate our events in light of the changing needs of our industry and the priorities of our members and exhibitors,” said CTA. “Given the pandemic, the economy, and our visible role as an American trade association, we have decided to focus on other CES related programs.” The State Department issued a "China -- Level 4: Do Not Travel" advisory June 4 for U.S. nationals. The Shanghai government mandates a 14-day quarantine for foreign visitors.
New America’s Open Technology Institute urged the Democratic and Republican national committees Monday to include planks in their 2020 party platforms in favor of restoring FCC 2015 net neutrality rules, ensuring universal internet access and undoing state laws that restrict municipal broadband. A “unity” task force set up by presumptive Democratic 2020 presidential nominee Joe Biden and former candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recommended last week that the Democrats’ platform address restoring net neutrality rules (see 2007080068). President Donald Trump in June urged the RNC to update the party’s platform in response to reports the RNC executive committee voted to leave the GOP’s manifesto unchanged from 2016 (see 2006120061). The 2016 platform included language on spectrum availability, broadband deployment and data privacy (see 1607270061). OTI’s recommendations included protecting digital equity during the pandemic, improving broadband affordability, strengthening antitrust enforcement of digital markets and preserving “strong” encryption. “The past few months have laid bare many inequities in our society,” said OTI Director Sarah Morris. “We hope both parties use this moment to commit to ensuring equitable access to technology and its benefits, as well as protecting people from potential abuses of their rights.”
Nine in 10 respondents in a June Mojo Vision survey say their use and reliance on technology increased or remained the same during sheltering-in-place restrictions. Half the 2,000 U.S. consumer respondents said the onset of COVID-19 caused them to use and depend on technology more. Maintaining communication and improving quality of life were the top factors, said the research company. Some 60% of early adopters and 40% of later adopters bought and tried new and different devices, apps or tech-driven services. Some 44% of early adopters and 59% of later adopters said they started using virtual communications tools and services. Forty-one percent of first adopters and 44% of later adopters said they started using grocery delivery options. About 30% of first adopters and 32% of later adopters were most interested in trying or continuing to use online delivery services in a post-COVID-19 era. Early adopters see themselves continuing to adopt new technology at a pace that’s almost 30% faster than before the pandemic, Mojo Vision said.
COVID-19 cut Voxx sales in fiscal Q1 ended May 31, said CEO Pat Lavelle on an investor call Monday. The results came at 5:30 p.m. EDT Friday. Monday, the stock closed down 6.6% at $5.28. Revenue in the automotive segment declined $12.4 million from Q1 a year earlier, said Lavelle. Consumer electronics sales were down $9.1 million, he said. Voxx reported its net loss nearly tripled to $9.1 million. The closure of virtually all automotive OEM production idled Voxx factories in Orlando that make rear-seat entertainment systems, said Lavelle. The shutdown of most new car dealers doubly hurt, he said. “April was reported to be the worst month for car sales in over 30 years.” Retail lockdowns harmed the Voxx consumer business, and the shutdown of movie theaters halted sales of Klipsch commercial speakers targeted to “large venues,” said Lavelle. “The only bright spot was some of the large brick-and-mortar retailers that sold food and remained open” as essential businesses, he said. “We saw increases at retailers such as Walmart, Costco and others.” Voxx e-commerce sales activity “picked up as well,” he said. “But this was mostly offset by Amazon focusing on essentials for a large part of the quarter.” The pandemic’s economic impact is “far from over, but we remain cautiously optimistic” about the rest of calendar 2020, said Lavelle. In June, the first month of Voxx’s fiscal Q2, “we saw a rebound, with sales up 30%,” he said. The company bought Directed Electronics' automotive aftermarket business this month (see 2007060044).
Policy fixes for tackling the 20 million or more "digitally invisible" Americans who lack digital access include universal broadband service, continuing to lift the regulatory restrictions and providing telehealth services, said Nicol Turner Lee, Brookings Institution director-Center for Technology Innovation, Monday on a panel. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, organizer of the event about communications technology ways of addressing Black mental health needs, said "internet inequality ... has exacerbated other long-standing social gaps in every aspect of American life." Telehealth service provision surged during the pandemic, but Black communities disproportionately lack access to telecom services that allow access to telehealth, he said, according to prepared remarks.
The broadcast incentive auction and repacking are among the biggest challenges the FCC undertook, and could inspire “the next seemingly crazy idea for spectrum reallocation, scribbled on the proverbial cocktail napkin,” said Chairman Ajit Pai in remarks at an American Consumer Institute Center webinar on the repack’s official end Monday (see 2007100035). "We have accomplished our objective,” said Pai. “All of the valuable low-band airwaves sold in the ground-breaking broadcast incentive auction are now available for wireless broadband service.” He praised staff, carriers, tower crews and broadcasters for making the complicated process successful.
Lawmakers we spoke with are eyeing more communications policy issues they hope to address before the August recess beyond the push to include telecom funding in COVID-19 legislation. Senate Commerce Committee leaders hope to advance the reconfirmation of Mike O’Rielly to an additional five-year FCC term. The House Commerce Committee plans a markup Wednesday, a spokesperson told us Monday evening. It's expected to include telecom bills that have been on hold since the pandemic disrupted Capitol Hill operations in March (see 2003130073)
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., urged the chamber’s Republicans Friday to “abandon their ‘wait-and-see’ approach” to the next COVID-19 aid bill and said Congress should “provide the resources” to ensure remote learning access. The recent spike in COVID-19 cases means it’s “increasingly likely that some form of remote learning will be necessary as children 'return' to school in the fall,” Leahy’s office said in a fact sheet: “If we do not address the homework gap, children without access to the internet will be left further behind their more affluent peers.” The House passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act (HR-6800) in May, which includes $5 billion for E-rate along with other broadband funding (see 2005130059). Senate Republicans have shown some interest in addressing remote learning in the next pandemic measure, which is expected to be a top agenda item when Congress returns from recess the week of July 20.
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved emergency authorization Friday for AT&T and FirstNet to deploy wireless facilities in seven tribal areas. Governors selected the projects in their respective states “as high-priority public safety locations for FirstNet to deploy,” AT&T told the commission: “AT&T plans to deploy these high-priority sites as soon as possible ... and these sites will be operational to provide communications to first responders from that date forward, both during and after” the pandemic.
During COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, the 10.37 million laptop and tablet imports to the U.S. in May rose 10.8% sequentially and 21% from May 2019, show Census Bureau data we accessed Friday through the International Trade Commission. May shipments had $4.58 billion in customs value, up 6.5% from April and 25.7% from the same 2019 month. China sourced 93% of the imports. Stay-at-home mandates spurred global shipments of “traditional” PCs to an 11.2% year-over-year increase in Q2 to 72.3 million, reported IDC Thursday. Work-from-home and remote-learning mandates sparked demand growth that “surpassed previous expectations,” said IDC: COVID-19 is returning computers to “the center of consumers' tech portfolio."