Global governments need to define semiconductors as an “essential” industry that must be “allowed to continue operations” during COVID-19 lockdowns, blogged Semiconductor Industry Association President John Neuffer Wednesday. Semiconductors “underpin vital sectors of the economy, including health care and medical devices, telecommunications, energy, finance, transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing,” he said. They run information technology systems “that enable remote work and access to essential services across every domain,” he said. “Ensuring the continuity of semiconductor and related supply chains is necessary to support the even greater range of services that will be digitized in the coming weeks and months.”
The Rural Wireless Association asked the FCC to give eligible telecom carriers until June 22 to report existing Huawei and ZTE equipment and services and replacement costs because of the pandemic. Reports are due April 22. COVID-19 “has caused tremendous disruption to RWA members as well as the entire nation,” RWA said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-89. RWA member ETCs are spending “substantial time and resources ... to numerous pandemic‐related urgent new activities.”
The FCC is soliciting nominations for a new advisory committee focused on stopping robocalls to hospitals, said a public notice Wednesday. The Hospital Robocall Protection Group will work to issue best practices for carriers to combat such calls, and how hospitals can protect themselves. It stems from the Traced Act. “Health care facilities are critically important, especially in the face of the current pandemic, and the last thing they should have to worry about is receiving robocalls that distract,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The group will have an equal number of representatives from hospitals, voice providers that serve hospitals, robocall mitigation companies, consumer groups, VoIP providers, state government officials, and one member each from the FCC and FTC. Best practices are expected to be issued within 180 days of the group’s establishment. Nominations are due “as soon as possible” but by May 1 (see the release).
Improving rural broadband access is critical to protecting and sustaining the national food supply, the FCC Precision Agriculture Task Force was told at Wednesday's online meeting. The COVID-19 pandemic will help the PATF identify "where we are strong and where we are weak" on connectivity, said group Vice Chair and Pioneer Communications CEO Catherine Moyer.
The White House posted a 5G security report Tuesday evening, providing a high-level overview of efforts to secure networks. Industry and government officials said in interviews Wednesday the White House likely would have released the report as part of its planned April 1 5G summit, which was expected to focus on open networks, but posted it after the event was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2003170004). The White House hasn't released its long-term national spectrum strategy, which had been expected last year (see 1907310033).
Backers of extra filing time to comment on public safety aspects of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s Mozilla v. FCC net neutrality decision applauded the agency's 21-day extension announcement Wednesday (see 2003250031). Some left the door open to seeking more time. About a dozen groups had sought a month longer, citing COVID-19.
States are rapidly changing rules to increase telehealth access as a pandemic intensifies the need for remote care. Most policies weren't ready for the novel coronavirus, and even with states now taking emergency steps, “there’s a lot of work” left, said Mei Kwong, executive director of the Public Health Institute’s Center for Connected Health Policy. She and other experts predicted the virus will have a tremendous impact on telemedicine.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Wednesday she and other congressional Democrats plan to push for the next bill addressing COVID-19 to include broadband capacity and distance learning provisions. A compromise of a third stimulus bill unveiled that day failed to include those priorities. Capitol Hill leaders and President Donald Trump’s administration reached a deal early Wednesday. A cloture vote on the COVID-19 legislative vehicle (HR-748) was expected to have happened Wednesday night. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and three other Republicans made that outcome more uncertain when they objected to the bill's proposed amount of unemployment insurance.
The FCC Wednesday postponed the first mid-band auction of citizens broadband radio service licenses for about a month because of COVID-19. The FCC postponed indefinitely an auction of FM construction permits. Analysts disagreed Wednesday whether the C-band auction could get pushed to next year.
COVID-19 could have "a material adverse impact" on company operations over the near to medium term, Comcast said in an SEC filing Tuesday. The impact led to the closing of theme parks, delayed theatrical distribution of films, and disrupted creation and availability of film advertising during TV programming. The pandemic's effects on Sky come atop what had already been a declining economy and ad market in Europe, Comcast said. It said the pandemic also likely will affect its cable residential and business services customer base due to economic stresses. The company said the scope of the virus-related business hit "will generally depend on the extent of governmental measures affecting day to day life and the length of time that such measures remain in place." S&P said the effect of the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games -- for which Comcast's NBC had the U.S. rights -- will be spread across the company's broadcast and cable networks and TV stations, since most outlets were to air games. It said total revenue from the 2016 Rio games was $1.6 billion, including nearly $1.2 billion in ads. It said NBC indicated earlier this month it had received more than $1.25 billion in commitments, selling about 90% of the inventory for national ads, and those results were about 6% above 2016 games. The debt ratings firm said other effects on Comcast include filling its summer programing schedules for its networks and stations. The beta launch of its Peacock streaming service, to come July 15 and be tied to the Olympic programming, also could suffer, S&P wrote.