The House Appropriations Committee voted 30-22 Tuesday to advance the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee's FY 2021 funding bill with report language encouraging NTIA to coordinate with the FCC and other agencies “to preserve spectrum access for scientific purposes as commercial use of radio spectrum increases.” The underlying measure allocates $45.5 million for NTIA, just under $3.7 billion for the Patent Office, $1.04 billion for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and almost $180.3 million for DOJ’s Antitrust Division.
After “extensive consideration and mindful planning,” CEDIA is resuming in-person training beginning next month at its Fishers, Indiana, headquarters, it said Monday. The organization will host courses with “safety-focused measures,” it said. Before arriving on-site for the program, learners will need to complete a questionnaire detailing any COVID-19 exposure or symptoms. While on-site, COVID-19 safety measures will include: required mask-wearing by learners and instructors at all times in the building, daily temperature checks before entering the building and reduced class sizes allowing for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recommended social distancing. The first training, covering cabling and infrastructure, is a hybrid course being offered for the first time with a self-paced online learning course that will complement hands-on learning at the CEDIA training facility Aug. 17-19. Other courses will include Home Theater Boot Camp and Advanced Networking Boot Camp, CEDIA said.
After “extensive consideration and mindful planning,” CEDIA is resuming in-person training beginning next month at its Fishers, Indiana, headquarters, it said Monday. The organization will host courses with “safety-focused measures,” it said. Before arriving on-site for the program, learners will need to complete a questionnaire detailing any COVID-19 exposure or symptoms. While on-site, COVID-19 safety measures will include: required mask-wearing by learners and instructors at all times in the building, daily temperature checks before entering the building and reduced class sizes allowing for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recommended social distancing. The first training, covering cabling and infrastructure, is a hybrid course being offered for the first time with a self-paced online learning course that will complement hands-on learning at the CEDIA training facility Aug. 17-19. Other courses will include Home Theater Boot Camp and Advanced Networking Boot Camp, CEDIA said.
After “extensive consideration and mindful planning,” CEDIA is resuming in-person training beginning next month at its Fishers, Indiana, headquarters, it said Monday. The organization will host courses with “safety-focused measures,” it said. Before arriving on-site for the program, learners will need to complete a questionnaire detailing any COVID-19 exposure or symptoms. While on-site, COVID-19 safety measures will include: required mask-wearing by learners and instructors at all times in the building, daily temperature checks before entering the building and reduced class sizes allowing for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recommended social distancing. The first training, covering cabling and infrastructure, is a hybrid course being offered for the first time with a self-paced online learning course that will complement hands-on learning at the CEDIA training facility Aug. 17-19. Other courses will include Home Theater Boot Camp and Advanced Networking Boot Camp, CEDIA said.
COVID-19 caused communication service providers to “pause” large-scale fiber installations, including fiber to the home, said Exfo CEO Philippe Morin on a Wednesday investor call. The Quebec City company supplies test equipment and services to wireless carriers. Sales declined 10.1% in fiscal Q3 ended May 31. “As economies are gradually reopening around the world, we are witnessing an increase in our funnel in our opportunities for optical and high-speed test solutions,” said Morin. Exfo’s “advanced optical test solutions” for its manufacturing and lab clients is delivering “healthy growth, mainly in China, where we've seen an acceleration of 5G investment,” he said. It “remains difficult” to forecast the pandemic’s impact on the global economy, he said. “long-term drivers,” including fiber and 5G deployments, “remain intact,” he said. Customers AT&T and Verizon “think it's so critical” to speed their 5G deployments in North America, he said. “In certain countries in Europe, you've seen a bit of delays.” Exfo’s factories are “up and running” and “fully operational,” said Morin. There remain bottlenecks in “the whole logistics side of things,” he said. “There's still some challenges in terms of flights and trucks.”
COVID-19 caused communication service providers to “pause” large-scale fiber installations, including fiber to the home, said Exfo CEO Philippe Morin on a Wednesday investor call. The Quebec City company supplies test equipment and services to wireless carriers. Sales declined 10.1% in fiscal Q3 ended May 31. “As economies are gradually reopening around the world, we are witnessing an increase in our funnel in our opportunities for optical and high-speed test solutions,” said Morin. Exfo’s “advanced optical test solutions” for its manufacturing and lab clients is delivering “healthy growth, mainly in China, where we've seen an acceleration of 5G investment,” he said. It “remains difficult” to forecast the pandemic’s impact on the global economy, he said. “long-term drivers,” including fiber and 5G deployments, “remain intact,” he said. Customers AT&T and Verizon “think it's so critical” to speed their 5G deployments in North America, he said. “In certain countries in Europe, you've seen a bit of delays.” Exfo’s factories are “up and running” and “fully operational,” said Morin. There remain bottlenecks in “the whole logistics side of things,” he said. “There's still some challenges in terms of flights and trucks.”
Charter Communications should expect public interest groups to oppose its ask that the FCC set a May sunset to the data caps and interconnection conditions from its purchase of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (see 2006180050). The cable ISP could face watered-down opposition compared with what it faced to get regulatory OK, with some groups telling us it's question of available resources. The commission might be hesitant to act on the petition before the November election, we were told.
CTA and others said the FCC should act quickly to make changes proposed in a Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band, approved 5-0 in April (see 2004230059). APCO and NAB were among those opposing the order, opposing further changes. CTIA urged caution. Comments were due Monday in docket 18-295 on proposals to permit very low-power devices to operate across the 6 GHz band and to increase the power at which low-power indoor access points may operate.
CTA and others said the FCC should act quickly to make changes proposed in a Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band, approved 5-0 in April (see 2004230059). APCO and NAB were among those opposing the order, opposing further changes. CTIA urged caution. Comments were due Monday in docket 18-295 on proposals to permit very low-power devices to operate across the 6 GHz band and to increase the power at which low-power indoor access points may operate.
Some 31 Apple stores were shown closed on the company’s website Thursday, including seven in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced the state will pause further reopening phases amid the surge in COVID-19 cases. The Department of Health State Services estimated 50,774 active cases statewide. Apple showed all four Houston stores closed; the Texas Medical Center reported intensive care unit beds at 100% capacity Wednesday. Harris County, Houston's home, led with 25,786 confirmed cases Wednesday, said Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Seven states reported new highs for current coronavirus hospitalizations this week, said The Washington Post : Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. All six Apple stores in Arizona were temporarily shuttered. The state had the biggest upward trend of new cases, said Johns Hopkins. In Florida, Apple stores in Estero and Naples were shown closed, while four of five stores in North Carolina -- and both South Carolina stores -- were shuttered. Two of four Tennessee stores -- Germantown and Nashville -- were closed. Apple began a gradual reopening of U.S. stores last month (see 2005180043) after it temporarily shut all U.S. storefronts in March. The company didn't comment.