Spending intentions continued to trend upward, said a COVID-19 Cowen investor report Friday surveying 2,500 U.S. consumers June 25-30. Thirteen percent expect to spend more on media and at-home entertainment services during July. Ten percent expect to spend more on cable, phone or internet, and 9% said they will spend more on electronics. Of those expecting their income to decrease over the next three months, 14% would cancel digital streaming subscriptions; 13% would cut back on cable services; 8% would switch to a cheaper phone plan.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved emergency authorization Friday for AT&T and FirstNet to deploy wireless facilities in seven tribal areas. Governors selected the projects in their respective states “as high-priority public safety locations for FirstNet to deploy,” AT&T told the commission: “AT&T plans to deploy these high-priority sites as soon as possible ... and these sites will be operational to provide communications to first responders from that date forward, both during and after” the pandemic.

During COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, the 10.37 million laptop and tablet imports to the U.S. in May rose 10.8% sequentially and 21% from May 2019, show Census Bureau data we accessed Friday through the International Trade Commission. May shipments had $4.58 billion in customs value, up 6.5% from April and 25.7% from the same 2019 month. China sourced 93% of the imports. Stay-at-home mandates spurred global shipments of “traditional” PCs to an 11.2% year-over-year increase in Q2 to 72.3 million, reported IDC Thursday. Work-from-home and remote-learning mandates sparked demand growth that “surpassed previous expectations,” said IDC: COVID-19 is returning computers to “the center of consumers' tech portfolio."

COVID-19-related timing provision adjustments are extended through Sept. 8, the Copyright Office said Friday. Originally to expire May 12, adjustments had been extended to July 10 (see 2005010032). It's for “certain registration claims, notices of termination, and section 115 notices of intention and statements of account,” the CO said.

COVID-19 forced the National Retail Federation to cancel its Jan. 17-19 NRF 2021 expo and conference as a physical show at New York’s Javits Convention Center, said the association Thursday. It’s the first known major trade show in 2021 to fall to the pandemic. NRF 2021 was scheduled to open as an in-person show about a week after CES 2021 closes Jan. 9. NRF will move the physical show to June 6-8, and host a virtual event over five days in January. The online event and the physical show in June will be themed “Forward Together,” said NRF. “Given the understandable concerns among all of our stakeholders regarding the availability and effectiveness of treatments or a vaccine for the coronavirus, we have concluded it is not feasible to maintain our original schedule of an in-person January 2021 trade show,” said NRF CEO Matthew Shay. Another complication is the use of Javits as a 2,500-bed COVID-19 Army field hospital. Those circumstances forced the cancellation last month of the Oct. 21-22 NAB Show New York as a physical event (see 2006090058)

Older customers in its largely rural footprint adopted technologies including broadband "at an alarming rate" during the pandemic, said Astrea Vice President-General Manager Cory Heigl during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Thursday. "We had to provide a lot of education," he said, and customer support conversations with an older demographic can be more complex. The reduced visibility into customers' households during the pandemic presented challenges in providing customer service, he said. Educational tools through social media, website videos and apps help, Heigl said. "We're really excited about call deflection" when customers who resolve problems through online tools don't need to call. The pandemic has prompted such moves at ISPs (see 2004100038).

The union that represents FCC employees praised a letter Thursday from four Senate Democrats urging the White House to allow federal workers to continue working from home. “Maximum telework policies have worked well across government during this health crisis, allowing agencies to continue functioning while also keeping employees safe at home,” said National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon. “As COVID-19 cases continue to increase, there is no reason to end those policies now.” The letter from Maryland's Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Benjamin Cardin and Virginia's Mark Warner and Tim Kaine said the federal government shouldn't require federal employees to return to work, especially in this region. The reopening guidelines for Virginia and Maryland urge employers to allow maximum telework, the letter said. “Any increased crowding on trains and buses in the National Capital Region will only further increase the risk of spreading COVID-19,” said the letter.

The House Commerce Committee is eyeing a virtual markup session the week of July 20 after a two-week recess, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said during an appearance on C-SPAN’s The Communicators to be televised this weekend. The House in May passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act (HR-6800), with broadband funding (see 2005180056). Lawmakers have been offering a range of other broadband funding proposals, including a push by House Democrats to allocate $100 billion as part of the Moving Forward Act infrastructure legislative package (see 2006220054). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has yet to “open his mouth and say something” (see 2005140062) about wanting to “sit down and negotiate” on another aid bill, Doyle said now. He hopes talks will have progressed during the current recess to a point where lawmakers will “have something to vote on relative to another package,” because Congress needs to “get something done before” the longer August recess. Doyle hoped appropriators “put sufficient” money in FY 2021 funding bills to fully implement the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. HR-4998 set up a program to fund U.S. communications providers’ removal of Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security (see 2003040056). The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee advanced its FY21 bill this week with $1 billion to implement HR-4998 (see 2007080064). The FCC earlier sought $2 billion for work on the law (see 2003230066). Doyle hailed the FCC’s decision to bar Chinese equipment makers Huawei and ZTE from participating in USF (see 2006300078).

Reallocate at least 45 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use and consider moving auto safety to the lightly used 4.9 GHz band, New America said in a paper Thursday. Action on 5.9 GHz “is particularly critical for consumers and the economy to the extent that it creates the first unencumbered 160 megahertz channel to support the next generation of Wi-Fi technology that will help Americans everywhere to access gigabit-fast and affordable 5G-capable applications and services,” the group said: Reserving 30 MHz for vehicle-to-everything technology “strikes an appropriate balance.” The FCC is expected to reallocate the band this summer (see 2004300032). Moving V2X to 4.9 GHz or another band would “better harmonize V2X services with 5G networks” and a potential “roadblock” to Wi-Fi in 5.9 GHz, the group said. Auto industry groups didn’t comment. The FCC is also expected to take another look at the 4.9 GHz band (see 2005040061). Fixed wireless networks depend on spectrum and Wireless ISP Association members need more quickly, especially 5.9 GHz, said Louis Peraertz, vice president-policy, during a WifiForward webinar Thursday. WISPs faced sharp increases in demand as a result of the pandemic, up 36% on average based on a member survey, he said. The band used by WISPs under special temporary authority from the FCC has been critical and members hope the STAs will be extended “because losing this spectrum will be too disruptive to their consumers,” he said. TCC Networks relies on unlicensed spectrum in the 5, 24 and 60 GHz bands, said CEO Donald Dawson. The Massachusetts WISP is looking at the citizens broadband radio service band, “but the concern about the level of difficulty there is scaring us a bit,” he said: “What we are in great need for is additional unlicensed spectrum.” Use of 5.9 GHz spectrum allowed TCC to keep up with COVID-19 demands and add bandwidth for all users, Dawson 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.”