COVID-19: What the FCC is doing to help

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is an independent US government agency which regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. It has taken a number of steps to help during the coronavirus pandemic, including:

• Calling on broadband and telephone service providers to promote connectivity for customers impacted by the coronavirus and the disruption it has caused. To ensure that customers do not lose connectivity, Chairman Ajit Pai called on service providers to sign the FCC’s Keep Americans Connected Pledge.
• Providing information on how to avoid being taken in by coronavirus-related scam calls and text messages.
  • The FCC has also issued warnings to three gateway providers about the need to cut off scam calls originating from overseas, or face serious consequences.
• Temporarily lifting restrictions on hiring so that video relay services (VRS) can employ more American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters to ensure uninterrupted VRS services.
• Waiving sponsorship requirements for Public Service Announcements (PSAs) which enables companies who had bought advertising time to donate it for PSAs about COVID-19. Under normal circumstances, the PSAs would need to display the details of the organisation which donated the ad time, but this is not required while the current situation continues, so as not to deter ad time donations.
• Voting to adopt a $200M telehealth programme to support healthcare providers duirng the pandemic. The COVID-19 Telehealth Program will see the FCC help healthcare providers purchase telecommunications, broadband connectivity and the devices necessary for providing telehealth services.
  • A separate initiative, the Connected Care Pilot Programme, will run for three years; provide up to $100 million of support from the Universal Service Fund (USF) to help offset health care providers’ costs of providing connected care services; and will assess how the USF can be used in the long-term to support telehealth.
• Granting temporary access to spectrum to help operators handle the increased demand for their services.
• Making changes to the Lifeline programme, which helps those on a low income access communications services by providing monthly discounts on broadband and voice services. The changes reduce the burden on both customers and providers, by temporarily removing certain recertification, reverication and registration procedures.

Find out more on what the FCC is doing to help by clicking here.