Fcc Newsbytes With Fletch

The Federal Communications Commission this week paved the way for hundreds of rural phone and broadband providers to waive fees that would otherwise be incurred by customers experiencing economic challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These include late payment fees as well as installation and cancellation fees for consumers signing up for, or looking to switch providers of, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) broadband services in order to work from home or access remote learning.

The FCC is launching a new telehealth program aimed at using $200 million in new federal funding to improve connected health services. @AjitPaiFCC unveiled the new program today, and an update on the Connected Care Pilot Program, which aims to improve telehealth access in remote and rural parts of the country.

On Friday, FCC Chairman @AjitPaiFCC announced the commission has issued a waiver that will allow ZOOM and WebEx to operate without fear of being penalized by additional fees intended for carriers, due to their massive increase in service minutes being provided. #SmartGov

The Federal Communications Commission has solicited nominations for the Hospital Robocall Protection Group, a new federal advisory committee dedicated to combatting robocalls to hospitals. The group will focus on issuing best practices on how phone companies can better combat unlawful robocalls made to hospitals, as well as how hospitals can better protect themselves from such calls. The creation of this group is a result of the TRACED Act, which gave the FCC additional tools and flexibility to combat malicious spoofing and scam robocalls.

The FCC has announced that the March 31 open meeting will continue as planned, however, the meeting will take place over video conference in light of the current CORVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. The public is welcome to watch at http://www.fcc.gov/live

The FCC re-confirms that during the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, 'the mission to serve the public is ongoing'. To that end, libraries and schools are permitted to allow the public to access E-Rate funded WiFi hotspot services, as long as they do so free of charge, and NOT jeopardize their E-Rate funding eligibility.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai held a conference call yesterday with television and radio broadcasters and broadcaster trade associations to thank broadcasters for their efforts to educate the American people about the coronavirus pandemic and discuss additional ways that broadcasters can help Americans stay safe and informed during the coronavirus outbreak.

During this novel Coronavirus pandemic, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai obtained commitments From several broadband service providers to keep Americans connected and increase speed where possible for the next 60 days.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Issues a statement on the effect of the coronavirus and the digital divide that exists in the US. She calls for Data Cap reviews, as well as broadband carriers input on dealing with the issue for Tele-Working, Tele-Health, and Tele-medicine.

This month the @FCC will be discussing several important issues like #RoboiCalling. Thes meetings are YOUR opportunity to guide the Commission through the ECFS Electronic Comment Filing System where anyone can comment.

Robocall eradication efforts continue to be a priority at the FCC with Chairman Ajit Pai leading the charge appearing on Fox and Friends and introducing important measures later this month at the FCC Open Meeting. Listen to the latest update HERE.