State commissioners should keep watch on telecom to protect consumers during the COVID-19 outbreak, said NARUC President Brandon Presley in a Thursday interview. “Once this crisis is behind us, we’ve got to view broadband service as a national security issue, in the sense of economic security,” he said. “I won’t have much toleration for anybody that comes to tell me that internet is a luxury.”
More Democrats are signaling interest in pushing to include broadband capacity and distance learning provisions in a potential fourth bill addressing the effects of COVID-19. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., earlier cited those issues as a continued priority (see 2003250046). The Senate voted 96-0 Wednesday to pass the third economic stimulus measure, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (HR-748). The legislation includes telehealth provisions and pandemic-related appropriations for the FCC, Rural Utilities Service and CPB, as expected.
The FCC provided relief Thursday on additional filing deadlines, as industry and government groups face COVID-19. On Wednesday, as some expected (see 2003230058), the FCC extended the deadline on a net neutrality partial refresh (see 2003250041). Industry officials said in interviews more extensions are likely, though not with the amounts of time being sought in most cases.
The European Commission remains on target to propose artificial intelligence legislation in December, despite COVID-19 complications, EC Team Leader-AI Irina Orssich said Wednesday (see 2002190004). “This might still happen,” she said during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation livestream.
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.