Broadband and TV providers can keep charging "rental" fees for equipment that customers own themselves until Dec 2020, thanks to a Federal Communications Commission ruling that delays implementation of a new law. A law signed by President Donald Trump in Dec 2019 prohibits providers from charging device-rental fees when customers use their own equipment, and it was originally scheduled to take effect on June 20. This law will help Frontier customers who have been forced to pay $10 monthly fees for equipment they don't use and, in some cases, have never even received. But the law gave the FCC discretion to extend the deadline by six months if the commission "finds that good cause exists for such an additional extension," and the FCC has done just that. The FCC ruling on April 3 [which we didn't notice at the time] extends the deadline to Dec 20, 2020 and says that providers need more time to comply because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Whether it be for business meetings, family video chats, virtual doctor appointments or distance learning, more Americans are relying on broadband and wireless networks to stay connected than ever before, as the nation deals with the COVID-19 crisis. As we look into the future, it is evident that investing in building these strong communication networks, in particular next-generation wireless networks or 5G, will be as crucial than ever to American success. However, that outcome and the consumer benefits that would result will not easily materialize without the Federal Communications Commission streamlining unnecessary regulatory roadblocks to small cell deployment, as well as keeping its vital spectrum auctions on schedule. America has the opportunity to take the lead in this global 21st century race; the momentum is there and consumers demand it, let us not let it go to waste.

[Steve Pociask is president/CEO of the American Consumer Institute and chair of the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee]

Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) led 15 colleagues in a bicameral letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) urging the leaders to include dedicated funding in future legislation to help ensure that college and university students with the greatest financial need can access high-speed internet during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In May, Sen Klobuchar and three other senators introduced the Supporting Connectivity for Higher Education Students in Need Act to help ensure that college and university students with the greatest financial needs can access high-speed internet during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill would appropriate $1 billion to establish an Emergency Higher Education Connectivity fund at the National Telecommunications Information Administration to help ensure that college and university students at historically Black colleges and universities, Tribal colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions, as well as rural-serving institutions, have adequate home internet connectivity during the coronavirus pandemic. Rep Eshoo introduced companion legislation in the House.

The Federal Communications Commission told the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that Huawei is wrong on all counts in its challenge to the FCC's decision to exclude suspect tech in general from its Universal Service Fund subsidies and, tentatively, Huawei in particular. Even if the FCC had not moved to exclude technology deemed a national security threat from the Universal Service Fund dollars, Congress seconded that with legislation that required it.  The FCC filed in court with Huawei's appeal of the FCC decision, saying the court can make its decision based on those briefs but that it is ready to go to court for oral argument if it has to. It said the Huawei petition should be denied.  And while the FCC lays out its argument against Huawei's postition, it says the court doesn't even have jurisdiction over the Huawei petition because that petition is not "ripe," in part because the decision to exclude Huawei -- and ZTE -- tech from the USF funds is tentative, so not a final FCC action, so not ripe for a challenge.

The digital future has long been talked about but the pandemic has brought it a big step closer. For millions, technology has been a lifeline in a new, socially-distanced reality. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. For the companies, the crisis has not only cemented their market power but provided an opportunity to show that they can be responsible corporate citizens. The pandemic has underlined the benefits of these digital platforms both socially and economically, in helping to fight disinformation about Covid-19 as well as in handling the ecommerce boom. Governments, meanwhile, have looked to Big Tech to help with the development of contact tracing apps. The sector’s advance looks unlikely to be curtailed any time soon. All this presents policymakers with some tricky challenges at a time when many had been keen to restrain the dominance of the big online platforms. The politics of the “techlash” have been made more complex even as the need for action has increased. It will require a nuanced response from regulators.