FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is “committed to working with Congress to secure the necessary authority and funding to enhance remote learning services and broadband connectivity in various cities and towns affected by” COVID-19, he said in a letter to Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., released Monday. Pai responded to a letter Warner sent in April urging the FCC to increase wireless power limits and decrease the size of the 75-kilometer exclusion zones where unlicensed access to the 5850-5895 MHz band is prohibited (see 2004160064). Pai wants Congress to allocate at least $430 million more for the FCC’s COVID-19 telehealth program in the next pandemic aid bill, and additional money for other connectivity (see 2008240054). Congress provided related funding in March.

COVID-19 and recent Chinese government actions “coalesced long-standing Western concerns about China, focusing on self-sufficiency, national security, trade deficits, business ethics, and human rights,” reported the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Monday. Beijing likely will be “the biggest business disruptor of the 2020s, but the discussion about how to respond has yet to take shape,” said ITIF. “A strategic framework should rebalance the global supply chains, bolster competitiveness, adjust to China’s market size, and solidify the West’s appeal.” Though U.S.-China trade tensions could “defuse,” relations between the countries “increasingly look like a win-lose economic struggle that will test which nation is stronger and which is likely to prevail in specific industries,” it said. It sees the 2020s as likely the “decisive decade.”

Health concerns due to COVID-19 advanced the market for wearables by 14% in Q2 on strong demand for hearables, reported IDC Monday. Hearables grew 32.6% year on year, and were 60% of all wearables. Apple shipped 29.4 million wearables in Q2 -- including 23.7 million Airpods and Beats products -- some 25% higher year on year, led by AirPods. Samsung had wearables growth of under a point to 7.1 million. Hearables were dominated by smartphone brands that have bundling opportunities; traditional headphone makers including Sony, Bose and Jabra focus on the lower-volume premium end of the market. Fitbit's shipments plunged in Q2 by 29% to 2.5 million. Ear-worn wearables continue to be popular as people work and learn from home, enabling privacy while remaining connected with devices and services.

State legislators supported extending business-to-business and employee exemptions to the California Consumer Privacy Act for one year, until Jan. 1, 2022. The Assembly voted 75-0 Sunday to concur with Senate amendments to AB-1281. They next need gubernatorial OK. Assembly floor analysis dated Saturday cited COVID-19 as a reason to give more time to develop a framework for B2B and employee data.

Mexico’s General Directorate of Standards granted UL authority through a special “designation” to do safety and energy efficiency testing globally for electronics products and equipment imported into that country, said the company Friday. Included are safety tests for audio, video and information technology products and uninterruptible power systems, plus energy efficiency tests for major appliances, it said. With the ability now to test at UL or UL-approved labs outside Mexico, UL “can help reduce time and cost to market for product access to the Mexican marketplace,” it said. Navigating the regulatory landscape of global markets is a “complex and challenging task,” said UL, and COVID-19 “has added another layer of complexity.” The designation means companies can test their products closer to their factories “and mitigate delays due to the pandemic," it said.

COVID-19 sent Movado fiscal Q2 sales tumbling 44% from store closures and the reduction of discretionary consumer spending, said the watchmaker Thursday. Sales in Q2 ended July 31 were better than “our internal expectations,” said CEO Efraim Grinberg on an investor call. Movado cut quarterly spending by $30 million, partly through a 24% reduction of its “corporate head count,” he said. “We have reopened all of our stores and are achieving high levels of productivity, despite reduced operating hours.” Movado is getting “strong results” from its e-commerce “initiatives,” said Grinberg. Movado.com sales were up 128% for the quarter, “and we continue to see those trends accelerate,” he said.

Customers of cloud services company NetApp are “adapting to the new normal” under COVID-19, said CEO George Kurian on a fiscal Q1 investor call Wednesday. “Companies are moving beyond the initial response to the pandemic of operationalizing work from home,” and are now seeking to speed “digital transformations to drive competitive advantage by delivering services and products remotely,” he said. The acceleration means more enterprises are managing their information tech “environments both on-premises and in the cloud,” he said.

Respondents to a mid-August Cowen continue to expect prolonged disruption due to COVID-19, averaging eight months, but consumer spending intention remains strong. Some 80% expect to spend the same or more in the upcoming month versus 66% in mid-April, the survey found. Areas where they expect to increase spending include groceries (58%), personal care products (27%), cable/internet/phone (19%), entertainment services (18%) and electronics (11%).

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut led a Thursday push with 23 other Democrats for the FCC to “take immediate steps to open” Lifeline program “assistance to more households, and ensure that its services meet the pressing needs of families during” the COVID-19 pandemic. House Commerce Committee Democrats also pressed for Lifeline improvements (see 2008130053). “We are alarmed that as students head back to class … there is still no national plan from the FCC to secure families’ access to their educational future,” Blumenthal and the other senators said in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The FCC under Pai “actively worked to undermine and destabilize the Lifeline program, which has left more families vulnerable during the pandemic.” A draft order Pai circulated last month would reduce a Dec. 1 increase of Lifeline’s minimum service standard for mobile broadband (see 2007300064). “We appreciate that the FCC issued and extended the temporary waivers in response to the pandemic to pause usage and subscriber documentation requirements,” but “by the benchmark established during previous crises, such as Hurricane Katrina, the FCC response falls far short,” the senators said. They urged the FCC to extend all current Lifeline waivers until at least August 2021 and “provide additional financial support to Lifeline providers” to support recipients’ access to unlimited mobile data and voice minutes during the pandemic. Other signers included Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz of Hawaii. Pai “for months has made clear that Congress needs to step up to the plate and make more funding available for connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic,” a spokesperson emailed. “It’s therefore disappointing that Senate Democrats have failed to do their job and are refusing to find common ground with the Administration and Senate Republicans on broadband funding and other core national priorities unless they get their demand for special-interest giveaways that have nothing to do with the pandemic.” Some lawmakers and advocates believe Capitol Hill’s inability to agree on an additional COVID-19 aid bill that includes broadband funding presents an opening for the issue to become a focus during the presidential and congressional campaigns this fall (see 2008210001).

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the value of traditional landline voice calls, said Parks Associates Wednesday, saying voice and video calls tripled during the pandemic. Some 30% of U.S. broadband households reported one remote worker, and 22% reported another adult was working remotely in the household, it said, contributing to recorded increases in voice and video calls reported by Comcast, AT&T and Verizon. The combination of shelter-in-place, work-from-home and other “from home” lifestyles “led many consumers to rediscover the value in voice," said analyst Brad Russell, causing many mobile networks to struggle to keep up with the increased usage. “A renewed concern for the elderly, vulnerable, and socially isolated will drive appreciation of technologies that keep loved ones connected, cared for, and safe,” Russell said, citing telemedicine, remote patient monitoring and independent living solutions requiring fixed-line calling. The fixed telephone line is still an important lifeline for the elderly, rural residents and lower income households, Parks said.