White House Cancels 5G Summit, Among Many Event Changes Over Coronavirus

The Trump administration postponed its planned April 1 5G summit (see 2002250083), a White House spokesperson said. The summit was expected to focus on developing an effective Western 5G hardware alternative to Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei. Trump last week signed the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998). The law allocates $1 billion to help U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security (see 2003120061).

The summit was expected to highlight a proposal backed by National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to work with U.S. tech companies to develop open radio access networks software for 5G networks as an alternative to Huawei gear (see 2002040056), lobbyists said. Executives from top U.S. wireless carriers and other tech companies were expected to participate, including Cisco, Intel, Mavenir, Qualcomm and Japanese firm Rakuten, lobbyists said. The FCC last week postponed its own March 26 summit on 5G-focused O-RAN technology because of coronavirus concerns (see 2003120071).

The FCC and other independent agencies ordered staff to telework, but other government agencies remained open for business Monday. “Federal offices in the Washington, DC area are OPEN,” the Office of Personnel Management said Sunday: “Please contact your supervisor to confirm telework schedule and to receive further direction from your agency head.”

At the DOD, which has become a key player on spectrum issues, many staffers are still being asked to report to the office. But the Pentagon is banning civilian, military members, contractors or others who traveled overseas in the past 14 days from entering the building. DOD told workers to follow social distancing rules, closed its gyms, and said food and drink concessions may close.

The Commerce Department and NTIA allow some workers to telecommute but not those whose work is classified or who do mission-critical work, industry officials said. The department didn’t comment.

The National Treasury Employees Union said Monday the federal government should follow directions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and close all federal buildings with 50 or more employees. "The half-measures taken so far are not enough because too many government workers are still working in full or nearly full offices," said National President Tony Reardon: "Closing buildings halts the large gatherings, just as CDC recommends, allows telework to continue and provides weather and safety leave -- as opposed to personal leave -- for those who have jobs that are not eligible for telework."

The FCC Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau will grant temporary waivers on certain regulatory requirements in its telecom relay services program to help prevent service interruptions during the current national emergency due to "recent substantial increases in COVID-19 cases" in the U.S., said an order Monday. Waivers are retroactive to Friday and in effect until May 15. Waivers for video relay service are also in effect subject to certain conditions, such as possible caps on VRS minutes that may be handled by at-home communications assistants. "The Bureau will continue to monitor this emergency situation and will consider and take additional actions as warranted," it said. Extensions will be addressed as necessary.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced 116 more broadband and phone providers took his pledge to Keep American Connected for the next 60 days (see 2003130025), for a total of 185.

The Media Bureau Audio Division can't accept filings that aren’t submitted electronically while the agency is teleworking under COVID-19 preventive measures, said a public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. Audio Division letter decisions will be emailed during the same period, the PN said. Noncommercial educational stations associated with colleges and universities that have closed because of the virus won’t be required to adhere to minimum operating requirements or seek special temporary authority, the PN said.

Other Event Changes

Many other coronavirus-related schedule changes were announced.

• The Wireless ISP Association show in Dallas, scheduled for this week, was canceled last week. “Due to the evolving nature of the coronavirus and concern for the safety of our attendees, the in-person convention portion of WISPAMERICA 2020 … has been canceled,” the group said: WISP plans a virtual show in its place.

• The Media Institute moved its Communications Forum luncheon from March 25 to April 27. FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly remains the event’s featured speaker.

• NTCA canceled the live meeting of its 2020 Legislative & Policy Conference, said CEO Shirley Bloomfield. The conference was scheduled for April 19-21 in Washington. The cancellation was based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending against gatherings of 50 or more people, NTCA said. “We are exploring the option of hosting a virtual conference instead.” NTCA set up a webpage for coronavirus updates and will host a webcast on “business continuity considerations” for small telecom providers this week, the association said.

• CEDIA canceled tech summits scheduled for March and April based on national and local public health reports about the coronavirus, it said Friday. Tech summits were planned for Woodland Hills, California, March 31; Irvine, California, April 2; Dallas, April 14; and Houston, April 16. The trade group is working on rescheduling the events, and said the remaining tech summits for 2020 are still planned, though the situation is “very fluid.”

• The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International postponed its AUVSI Xponential 2020 event, which had been set for May 4 in Boston. The event was tentatively rescheduled to Aug. 10.

• The Space Foundation's Space Symposium, scheduled for March 30-April 2, was postponed. It said it will announce new dates in coming days.

• All civil and criminal trials scheduled to start before April 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York are postponed, it said. Jury trials and grand juries underway as of Monday are unaffected, it said.

For more information about other court changes during the outbreak, see our earlier report here. This publication will continue releasing publicly some of its reporting on COVID-19. See the "featured article" section of our website. For how we are responding to the virus, see here as well as 2003160033.