The telehealth industry fears the $200 million the FCC has available for emergency COVID-19 funding will quickly run out, before all forthcoming applications are considered. Stakeholders we spoke with this month are seeking additional funding, but called the funds included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act a good start. Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Don Young, R-Ala., proposed an additional $2 billion in such spending Friday via their Healthcare Broadband Expansion During COVID-19 Act (HR-6474).

Maine should respond by May 27 to the telecom industry seeking an immediate ruling that the state’s ISP privacy law is unconstitutional, the U.S. District Court of Maine said Tuesday in case 1:20-cv-00055. ACA Connects, USTelecom and other industry groups Monday filed a motion (in Pacer) for judgment on the pleadings. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s (D) answer (see 2004030075) to the complaint “confirms that the material facts supporting these allegations are undisputed, the Court should enter judgment in Plaintiffs’ favor on the pleadings and declare the Statute unconstitutional, thereby barring Defendant from enforcing it against Plaintiffs and their members,” industry said. The court Monday set (in Pacer) an expected trial date of Nov. 3 and other deadlines, including discovery by Aug. 24 and all dispositive motions Sept. 14.

Citing the need for MVPDs and fixed broadband providers to focus on pandemic issues, an FCC Media Bureau order Friday delayed implementation of Television Viewer Protection Act truth-in-billing implementation by six months until Dec. 20. TVPA, enacted as part of an FY 2020 federal appropriations law (see 1912190068), included modified language from the Truth-in-Billing, Remedies and User Empowerment over Fees (True Fees) Act (HR-1220/S-510). "Their foremost obligation at this time is to ensure continuity of service adequate to meet the nation’s needs," instead of changes to existing billing systems, employee training or other compliance measures, the Media Bureau said. ACA Connects, NCTA and USTelecom sought delayed implementation (see 2003270030). ACA said Friday even without the COVID-19 pandemic, the required software upgrades were challenging. NCTA cheered the extra time. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., urged the FCC Friday to “vigorously enforce" the truth-in-billing language, which will require cable and satellite providers to begin disclosing all fees before consumers sign up for a service. It also requires providers to allow cancellations within 24 hours without penalty and to only charge subscribers for equipment “they actually use.” The FCC needs to confirm it “fully intends to enforce the new law,” Markey and Eshoo said in a letter to Chairman Ajit Pai. “We would also like to know what, if any, guidance the Commission intends to provide [MVPDs] about compliance.” The agency didn’t comment.

Governments at all levels should adopt consistent personal movement and work guidelines for information and communications technology workers during COVID-19, some 30 trade associations urged Friday. “Ensure that critical technology service workers can build, maintain and run these technology tools," said Information Technology Industry Council CEO Jason Oxman. Joining were ACT|The App Association, BSA|The Software Alliance, the Software and Information Industry Association and USTelecom, along with others from the U.S. and elsewhere.

The FCC and FTC told USTelecom gateway providers facilitating robocalls preying on COVID-19 fears would have all calls blocked to U.S. phone network traffic if they don't stop transmitting the robocalls within 48 hours, in a letter Friday to CEO Jonathan Spalter. The USTelecom Industry Traceback Group identified VoIPMax from the Philippines and Oberlo Peer BPO from Pakistan as originators, the letter said. The FTC sent cease and desist letters to SipJoin, Connexum and VoIP Terminator/BL Marketing. In a statement Friday, Spalter said, “Robocall scammers are out in force during this public health emergency, using COVID-19 to prey on vulnerable consumers. As soon as these scams started popping up, we began aggressively tracing them -- literally around the world." Gateway providers have a choice, said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "Move forward as responsible network providers or see themselves cut off from the phone system. ... To any other service provider that’s carrying or is thinking of carrying such traffic, be warned: If you do so, you too will find yourselves excluded from our phone system.” The FTC "will not stand for illegal robocallers that harm the public, particularly in the middle of a health crisis,” said Chairman Joe Simons. The number of robocalls "is INSANE," tweeted Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. "It shouldn’t have taken this crisis for the FCC and FTC to join forces to do something about it. But it’s a good thing it’s happening. Because scam calls are multiplying during this pandemic and stopping them at the source is vital."

ICANN Senior Vice President-Global Domains Division Cyrus Namazi leaves; Senior Vice President-Multistakeholder Strategy and Strategic Initiatives Theresa Swinehart also leads GDD in interim ... WarnerMedia names Jason Kilar, ex-Vessel, CEO ... Axinn adds Craig Minerva, ex-DOJ, as counsel-antitrust ... Latham & Watkins announces Nicholas Boyle, ex-Williams & Connolly, as partner-complex commercial litigation; his clients include software and technology companies, business-to-business data sellers and movie studios ... CTIA announces Sarah Versaggi, ex-USTelecom, as assistant vice president-government affairs and Joe Joiner, ex-National Restaurant Association, as PAC director.

Commissioners 5-0 OK'd an NPRM to deregulate phone tariffing and eliminate interstate access charges on local phone bills (see 2003260043). The vote preceded Tuesday's meeting via teleconference (see 2003310067). The NPRM proposes detariffing subscriber line, access recovery, presubscribed interexchange carrier and line port charges, plus the special access surcharge. It seeks to "explicitly prohibit carriers from assessing any separate telephone access charges on customers' bills after those charges are deregulated and detariffed" because they are difficult to understand, the agency said. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly supports the deregulation, not the plans to prohibit carriers from continuing to list separate access charges on bills. "I find it somewhat strange and ironic to characterize these charges as deceptive, when it was the FCC that established the various access charges and all of their confusing terminology in the first place, and the item proposes to continue to use the charges as proxies for calculating rate-of-return carriers' Universal Service Fund support," he wrote. O'Rielly said it should be up to the carriers to determine how to itemize and describe charges: "It's not clear to me how forcing carriers to bury these costs in their rates, rather than providing discretion to itemize them, will ultimately provide better transparency." The FCC “today recognized the market for voice services has changed substantially since 1996, including the reality that ILECs are no longer a monopoly provider," said USTelecom Vice President-Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships Mike Saperstein. "This was an appropriate step by the commission to permit incumbent providers to price services in a way that reflects today’s competitive marketplace.” NTCA is waiting to see the NPRM.

Huawei questioned the legality of rules barring U.S. providers from using its and ZTE's equipment in networks funded by the USF, in comments on implementation of the Secure Networks Act (see 2003120061). Filings were posted in dockets 19-351 and 19-352 Monday. “Since June 2018, Huawei has repeatedly highlighted the constitutional, statutory and procedural flaws in the Commission’s approach to addressing national security risks to the communications supply chain,” the Chinese vendor said. The Networks Act “requires the Commission to rely on specific national security determinations made by other agencies (or Congress) and does not allow the Commission (or the Bureau) to make such judgments itself,” Huawei said. ZTE cited differences between November's order (see 1911220033) and the act and said decisions about covered companies must be made by “an executive branch interagency body” not the commission acting alone. The agency should first focus on reimbursements for companies that need to replace equipment from the Chinese vendors, the Rural Wireless Association said. RWA said COVID-19 raises new concerns: “Given the unprecedented events of the last few weeks, the fact that the Secure Networks Act does not require final designation until 2021, and the ultimate desire by all parties operating covered company equipment to replace those elements as soon as practicable, the Commission should abstain from issuing any final designation public notice before March 2021.” WTA asked the FCC to reconsider its rules. “A plain reading of the Act requires the Commission to replace its current designation process with an equipment-centric approach instead of the company-centric approach it adopted,” WTA said. USTelecom said the FCC must rely on language in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2019 in crafting rules. The act “compels the Commission to confirm its designation of Huawei and ZTE as entities that produce covered equipment,” the group said: The earlier supply chain order "presented significant evidence describing why both Huawei and ZTE warrant designations as ‘companies that pose a threat to national security.’”

Parties interested in the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund debated how auction procedures should measure satellite providers' performance, in comments posted through Monday in docket 20-34. The Wireline Bureau sought feedback on whether newer low earth orbit satellite technologies like SpaceX should be offered a special carve-out (see 2003020075).

Approve a blanket six-month delay of the June 20 effective date of transparency-in-billing provisions of the 2019 Television Viewer Protection Act (see 2003060049), NCTA, USTelecom and ACA Connects asked the FCC Friday in docket 20-61. They want the extension "immediately to allow MVPDs to redirect all necessary resources towards addressing COVID-19."