Bloomberg

As residents shelter in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the surge in demand that internet providers would expect to see gradually over the course of an entire year has instead hit in a matter of weeks. How are these crucial networks faring, and will they be able to keep handling this kind of a load? The answer is complicated and even more so the longer the pandemic persists. But so far — as anyone fortunate enough to be able to work remotely and stream Netflix can attest — things seem to be going OK.

As prisoners increase their reliance on phone visits during the new coronavirus, telecommunications companies are asking the Federal Communications Commission to waive a fee on inmates’ interstate and international calls. The push by Securus Technologies LLC and Network Communications International Corp. highlights a years-long policy debate at the FCC over how to rein in prison call rates. The phone providers must pay a fee equal to 20% of revenue from every interstate and international prison call to the FCC’s Universal Service Fund.

The Donald Trump re-election campaign told TV stations they could lose their operating licenses for airing an ad criticizing the president’s actions in the coronavirus crisis -- a challenge that may be more bluster than actual threat. President Donald Trump’s campaign, in a letter on March 25, told stations in five battleground states to stop showing the ad from Priorities USA, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Failure to remove the ad “could put your station’s license in jeopardy” before the Federal Communications Commission, the campaign said.

This spring the US government was planning to focus on its strategy for rolling out fifth-generation wireless networks, bringing faster internet connections to power movie downloads, telemedicine, self-driving cars, and more. Then the new coronavirus hit, sending workers and schoolchildren home to try to do their jobs and continue their education on laptops.