Amazon had about 118 million Prime members in the U.S. March 31, partially bolstered by more trial conversions during COVID-19, reported Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Monday. Prime members were 65% of Amazon shoppers in the most recent quarter, CIRP said. Conversion rate, which had "trended down" over the past few years after monthly membership's launch, increased by five points over the past year, said analyst Mike Levin. CIRP surveyed 500 U.S. consumers who bought on Amazon.com January-March.
WOW CEO Teresa Elder, who was temporarily hospitalized with COVID-19 (see 2003300002), returned to work and resumed her CEO duties, the company told the SEC Monday.
COVID-19 show cancellations have begun stretching into July. GSMA scrubbed the June 30-July 2 Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2020 show “in light of current government guidance” and the “global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak,” it said Friday. GSMA “will work with government and health authorities to find a suitable date and venue to hold regional conferences in China in the latter half of 2020,” it said. “We will confirm the feasibility of this in the coming months.” GSMA shut down February's MWC 2020 in Barcelona (see 2002120056). The National Association of Music Merchants canceled the July 9-11 Summer NAMM show in Nashville, it said Monday. “The harsh realities of this crisis make it impossible to undertake the many months of careful planning and preparation that are required for such a show,” said NAMM.
The FCC seeks comment by May 4, replies May 11 on a petition for emergency waiver and declaratory ruling by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and eight other consumer advocacy groups, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Monday on docket 03-123. Groups want temporary waiver of telecommunications relay services user registration and per-call validation rules during COVID-19.
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved special temporary authority Friday for the Navajo Nation to use unassigned spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band for wireless broadband service as part of the agency’s COVID-19 response. The nation is in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The grant expires in 60 days.
AARP wants the FCC and industry to ensure older Americans are connected during the pandemic, said a letter Friday in commission docket 20-89. It wants the commission to suspend broadband data caps and overage charges, encourage free or subsidized broadband to residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, increase the broadband minimum service standards for Lifeline wherever possible, and give Lifeline customers unlimited voice minutes and text messages. The group wants the FCC to extend the Keep Americans Connected Pledge.
The FCC seeks nominations by April 27 for COVID-19 efforts by its Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee's disaster response and recovery working group, said a public notice in Friday's Daily Digest. The WG will document "strategies and solutions that stakeholders are developing and implementing in real time to address the deployment-related challenges presented by the coronavirus," the PN said. "It will also enable the BDAC to report on best practices and lessons learned from the response to COVID-19 to help with the ongoing response" and responding to "any comparable future crises," it added.
Cowen expects a strong Amazon Q1 earnings report April 30, with “Holiday-like demand” during COVID-19, John Blackledge wrote investors Friday. Shares are up 30% this year. Amazon’s plan to hire 75,000 fulfillment workers is a sign demand will likely remain elevated through first half '20 (see 2004130034); that's atop the 100,000 it signed on last month (see 2003160051). The analyst trimmed Amazon’s advertising forecast but considers its ad business “generally more insulated” than other digital platforms because it’s related to product search.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. expects continued 5G deployment. The key iPhone chip supplier was one of the few tech companies not to change 2020 guidance. Though COVID-19 will send global smartphone demand plunging by a high-single digit percentage this year, “5G network deployment continues and OEMs continue to prepare to launch 5G phones,” said CEO C.C. Wei Thursday. The company is standing by its forecast that 5G penetration of the smartphone market will reach into the “mid-teens” in 2020, he said. TSMC expects “faster penetration of 5G smartphones” compared with 4G, “with substantially higher silicon content,” said Wei. “We believe 5G as a multiyear megatrend is still strong.” The company's Q1 sales fell 1% sequentially. The “continued ramp” of 5G smartphone chips kept the decline to “much less than seasonality” trends, he said Thursday. The smartphone business, 49% of total revenue, nevertheless declined 9% on weaker global handset demand, he said. Though the company hasn’t seen “significant order reduction,” supply chain “dislocation” and weaker “end-market demand” from COVID-19 are expected to persist at least through June, said Wei. It’s forecasting the overall semiconductor market to be “flattish” to slightly down this year, he said. If COVID-19 takes “longer than that” to stabilize, “the macro economy will be much worse than we thought and definitely will affect the semiconductor industry,” conceded Wei in Q&A. “We don't know yet. Let's be hopeful that all the human beings will be safe and healthy and everything stabilizing in June.”
The FCC gave employees 10 hours a week of leave to deal with home-life issues during COVID-19, as we previously reported (see 2004140048), Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday in an online address to the Interamerican Development Bank and International Institute of Communications, per prepared remarks: "To get the policies right, you need to treat the people on your team right."