NARUC President Rallies States Around Telecom Amid COVID-19

State commissioners should keep watch on telecom to protect consumers during the COVID-19 outbreak, said NARUC President Brandon Presley in a Thursday interview. “Once this crisis is behind us, we’ve got to view broadband service as a national security issue, in the sense of economic security,” he said. “I won’t have much toleration for anybody that comes to tell me that internet is a luxury.”

State policymakers are responding (see 2003240034). Local associations pressed the FCC to do more.

State commissions are on the “front lines of consumer complaints,” Presley said. “Most states have at least some degree of telecommunications jurisdiction, and I think it’s very important during this time that we encourage carriers to step up to the bat.” Presley will ask NARUC’s new broadband task force (see 2002120038) to consider “lessons learned.”

NARUC teleconferenced Tuesday with the telecom industry including CTIA, NCTA, NTCA, Tracfone and USTelecom; about 150 people joined, a NARUC spokesperson said. Presley told us he wanted to give state commissioners a chance to question industry and learn what it has done so far on data caps, line disconnections and other issues. “There’s still things that can be done,” and “some are doing more than others,” he said. “We’re seeing every day the heightened need for our telecommunications providers ... to continue to ease the burden on customers.” Presley wants more information on whether data cap waivers apply to devices used as Wi-Fi hot spots.

“The response to this crisis is going to take substantial collaboration between federal, state, and local governments and the private sector,” said NTCA Senior Vice President-Industry Affairs Mike Romano in a statement. Cable “primarily wanted to share the need for our essential workers to have access to key facilities, and the ability for our workers be out and about as needed to make sure our networks are performing well,” an NCTA spokesperson emailed. Other industry participants didn’t comment.

COVID-19 “heightens the importance” of the NARUC broadband task force’s work, Chair Chris Nelson told us. “One thing that we have learned intimately over the last two weeks is the fact that nearly everyone needs access to broadband,” said the South Dakota public utilities commissioner. “Folks that might not have expected that they needed broadband in their homes” now see it’s critical for work, education and accessing medical information, he said. The coronavirus experience likely will produce more data on who lacks broadband, said Nelson.

NARUC’s July 19-22 meeting in Boston is still on, Presley said. “We’re proceeding as if the meeting is going forward,” and the association will monitor the situation and heed public health advice, he said.

States Respond

This public health crisis shows “how critical it is that North Carolinians have access" to broadband anytime, anywhere and on any device, said state Chief Information Officer Tracy Doaks Thursday on a web-based meeting of the Governor’s Task Force on Connecting North Carolina.

Doaks and Gov. Roy Cooper (D) spent 45 minutes March 20 asking vendors for ideas the state can implement immediately, she said. “That call was responded to with a sense of urgency and focus,” and Broadband Infrastructure Office Director Jeff Sural is assessing plans received from industry, she said. Doaks plans to meet again with vendors next week “to go into a more detailed session.”

The Nebraska Public Service Commission announced $1 million for low-income broadband adoption, the agency said Wednesday. The PSC must do what’s needed to ensure families struggling to pay “receive the services they need during this challenging time,” said Commissioner Crystal Rhoades. “It was also important that we do what was needed to assist our carriers which have pledged to do their part.”

West Virginia PSC members had a conference call Monday with AT&T, Frontier Communications, Suddenlink, other cable providers and utilities about what companies are doing to keep providing service and protect employees, the agency said Wednesday. Commissioners asked what would happen if a natural disaster occurred amid the pandemic. Telecom providers said they're following FCC disconnection guidelines and some are providing free Wi-Fi for students, the PSC said. Companies have “taken numerous measures,” it said.

Local governments need more FCC support as they respond, NATOA, the National League of Cities, National Association of Counties and the U.S. Conference of Mayors wrote Chairman Ajit Pai in a Friday letter posted Wednesday. They urged the FCC to extend comment deadlines; expand Lifeline; boost telehealth by increasing funding for the Rural Health Care Program; and authorize emergency E-rate funding to expand hot spot lending and allow closed schools and libraries to provide connectivity to surrounding areas. The commission has been delaying deadlines (see 2003260061).

Keep pressing ISPs to do more, said the local groups, thanking Pai for providing USF flexibility and coordinating voluntary ISP action. “Several companies have taken steps to lift data caps and overage fees, prioritize outreach and connection for educational and healthcare institutions, expand eligibility for low-cost programs, and expand speeds of those low-cost programs.” An FCC spokesperson referred us to the agency’s "Keep Americans Connected" pledge.