ISPs are adopting evolving protocols to help keep service technicians and residential customers safe during COVID-19, they said in interviews last week. Actions include screening customers for their risk of exposure to the virus before scheduling a truck roll, equipping tech staff with personal protective gear, limiting repair work to what can be done outside, and promoting self-installation and repair. Even before the pandemic, cable operators and telcos sought to limit how frequently they send staff to customers' homes.
COVID-19 effects continue in telecom, media and technology (TMT). NAB won't move when planned, we were told Tuesday (see 2004140063). Earlier that day, we were told that the annual summer Technology Policy Institute conference in Aspen, Colorado, was postponed to the fall. TPI moved it cross-country. You can see that report in front of our pay wall here. Monday, we reported the FCC won't move on time.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, N.J., is circulating discussion language to provide $2 billion in “emergency broadband benefit” funding in the next COVID-19 stimulus bill. Some lobbyists we spoke with see the draft as Democrats’ bid to resurrect plans for emergency broadband funding without providing new ammunition to Lifeline critics. Several Democratic lawmakers want future COVID-19 legislation to fund broadband and other infrastructure (see 2003260063). Some groups are urging Congress to use the coming measure to address other communications policy priorities, including media funding (see 2004090066).
FCC workers and their National Treasury Employees Union praise the agency's precautions to protect employees from COVID-19. But NTEU filed an unfair labor practices grievance against the agency Monday over continuing contract negotiations during the pandemic, President Tony Reardon emailed us. The FCC acted faster than some other federal agencies, but critics told us none has responded quickly or well.
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument via telephone conference May 4, 5, 6, 11, 12 and 13 in some previously postponed cases, with justices and counsel participating remotely, it said Monday. It expects to provide a live audio feed of arguments to news media. Numerous federal courts have opted for telephonic oral arguments or postponing cases in light of the pandemic (see 2003130039). The high court will hear PTO v. Booking.com (see 2002140016) in early or mid-May via teleconference, SCOTUS said. The court postponed oral argument for Google v. Oracle (see 2002200061) until the October term.
NAB’s virtual stand-in for its canceled Las Vegas show is May 13-14, said the group Monday. Registration opens April 20 for the free NAB Show Express, which will offer on-demand content, online educational sessions and product exhibitions. Some sessions will replicate events that had been planned for the Las Vegas show, including President Gordon Smith’s annual address. There will be a channel dedicated to content from the Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology conference that was to have opened this weekend in Vegas. Express will feature three stand-alone “training and executive leadership events” with registration fees, the release said. The association canceled the annual show March 11, the day the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic (see 2003200039). Brightcove and Frequency Audio-Visual Services will be the enabling platforms for the online conference,
FCC staff travel suspension amid the COVID-19 pandemic is complicating the timeline for a long-anticipated field hearing in California on cell tower outages during the 2019 wildfires, Chairman Ajit Pai told two members of the state’s House delegation -- Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney. McCarthy invited the FCC to do a field hearing in Kern County, while McNerney pressed for a panel in northern California by June 5 (see 2001300030). “Although I had hoped to hold a field hearing in California in the first half of this year, the FCC has decided to suspend all travel in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Pai told McCarthy and McNerney in letters posted Friday. He noted the FCC’s role in encouraging CTIA and the Edison Electric Institute to launch a cross-sector resiliency forum to improve coordination between the wireless and electric power sectors (see 2002270046).
Industry opposed requests to delay an FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund broadband subsidy program Phase I auction, in comments posted through Monday in docket 20-34 (see 2003270066). "Move ahead with the RDOF auction this year so that funding can be awarded to rapidly close the digital divide," USTelecom said, noting the California Public Utilities Commission argued for a delay. Telecom providers are challenged to keep networks in service during the pandemic, but "this is not an adequate reason for the Commission to delay an auction that is not due to start until October," USTelecom said: "This crisis has shown how important it is for all Americans to have access" to broadband. AT&T echoed earlier commenter skepticism for allowing unproven technologies to seek RDOF support. The company cited consensus on being "wary of short form applicants lacking two years of operational experience" and intending to rely on new low earth orbit satellite technology. NTCA wants the FCC to "reject proposals to reorient the weighting framework to favor certain lower-performing technologies that are inconsistent with the goals of the auction and that pose the risk of substantially complicating the RDOF auction." Rules should prohibit providers from using USF support to subsidize non-U.S. endeavors, GeoLinks said. "Despite these commenters’ attempts to disparage SpaceX’s network, SpaceX has now launched and operates the largest satellite constellation in the world and will soon be offering service to customers in the United States who have for too long been left behind by legacy networks," the company said. Don't "stifle broadband deployment by barring broadband service providers from using satellite technologies that can support latency-sensitive broadband services," such as medium earth orbit satellites, SES and affiliate O3b said. "Avoid making definitive conclusions about bidders or technologies prior to the short-form application process," Viasat said.
More than 800 groups urged congressional leaders Monday to include language in the next COVID-19 stimulus bill for “a nationwide moratorium on the shut-offs” of broadband and “all other essential utilities” during the pandemic. The groups pressed leaders to “invest significant stimulus funds into long-term solutions” to “systemic issues driving these all-too-common utility injustices,” including “percentage-of-income payment plans” for broadband and other services. Several Democratic lawmakers want future COVID-19 legislation to fund broadband and other infrastructure projects (see 2003260063). The shut-off moratorium is needed because the epidemic “is resulting in the widespread loss of jobs that is unprecedented in modern history,” Free Press Action Policy Director Dan Floberg and leaders of other groups wrote. Appropriations should come in the form of “substantial funding for emergency broadband connectivity program, aimed at connecting low-income families and those experiencing job and income loss due to the pandemic." Other signers include Access Now, Communications Workers of America, MediaJustice, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, National Hispanic Media Coalition, New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge.
The FCC’s move to new headquarters near Union Station has been delayed at least two months due to COVID-19, a spokesperson told us Monday (see 2004130039). The move had been slated for late June. Since the FCC’s pandemic response means few employees are in the building, preparations for the move were delayed. One official told us it may be delayed into the fall. The new HQ is Sentinel Square III at 45 L St. NE. The current location is 445 12th St. SW.