The FCC is seeking to better assess emergency communications reliability by adding data fields to the network outage reporting and 911 reliability certification systems, the Public Safety Bureau said. On an FCBA CLE webinar, also Monday, T-Mobile officials raised some related cautions. North Carolina, meanwhile, hasn’t faced major challenges with emergency-call delivery amid the coronavirus but can't “let our guard down,” the state’s 911 Board Executive Director Pokey Harris said in a Thursday interview.
CTA slashed 2020 unit sales forecasts for core CE categories Friday “as consumers struggle with economic uncertainty” due to COVID-19.
Southern Nevada health authorities confirmed Friday that their existing COVID-19 testing and contact-tracing protocol give them little way of knowing whether the coronavirus was spreading among the 170,000 who attended CES 2020, as an American Public Media report Thursday inferred. CTA is “not aware of any confirmed cases of COVID-19 connected to CES 2020,” said the association.
Verizon withdrew its full-year revenue outlook Friday due to COVID-19 uncertainty, as AT&T did Wednesday. But Verizon updated earnings, with mild reductions from earlier forecasts. As part of its annual shareholder meeting Friday, AT&T announced that CEO Randall Stephenson will be replaced in that role by President John Stankey on July 1. Stephenson will be executive chairman until January (see 2004240027).
Lawyers and judges said widespread use of video and telephone conferences for civil hearings and oral arguments is causing relatively few problems and is a decent replacement for meeting in-person during the pandemic. Many told us they hope or expect such tech to be incorporated more into court proceedings even post-pandemic.
The threat of large fines in European and California privacy law focused the tech industry’s attention on compliance, FTC Chairman Joe Simons said Friday. His remarks to the American Bar Association came the day after U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly approved the agency’s $5 billion privacy settlement with Facebook (see 1912050061).
The FCC issued show cause orders Friday against four companies “ultimately subject to the ownership and control of the Chinese government.” China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks and ComNet were ordered to explain why the FCC shouldn't begin the process of revoking their domestic and international authorizations allowing them to operate in the U.S. The companies have 30 days to respond.
More than 85% of Americans have access to fixed terrestrial broadband at speeds of 250/25 Mbps, said an FCC 2020 broadband deployment report Friday. The number of rural Americans with that access more than tripled from 2016 to 2018, it said. But Democratic commissioners and some consumer advocates question the findings that broadband is deployed in a reasonable and timely manner, saying the COVID-19 pandemic put the digital divide in stark relief.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is getting a mix of criticism and defense for recent comments on Twitter and elsewhere about China and other topics. He has also drawn notice in recent months for his criticisms of Free Press’ emergency petition for inquiry into broadcasters airing allegedly false information about COVID-19 (see 2004060073) and the House Intelligence Committee’s subpoenas of call records during its inquiry on impeaching President Donald Trump. Some critics believe Carr is wading into political controversies in a bid to be appointed FCC chairman after current head Ajit Pai steps down, if Trump wins re-election.
Industry, policymakers and consumer advocates are seeking new ways to expand Lifeline enrollment and benefits in response to the public health and economic crisis, we're told. Some advocates are pursuing emergency funding to provide a more robust residential broadband Lifeline benefit to meet the demands of working and learning at home. Stay-at-home orders put restraints on Lifeline promotion and enrollment.