Industry Groups, Providers Signal No Network Problems, Pai Says

U.S. communications networks are holding up under increased demand during a pandemic, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday, after a conference call with industry groups and companies. He said providers report network usage up 20-35% for fixed networks and 10-20% for cellular networks in recent weeks, with increased demand in suburban, exurban and residential areas and during daytime. He said no providers expressed concern about their networks' capacity. Pai said the resilience is "in part to networks being designed to handle ever-higher peak traffic loads and in part to a market-based regulatory framework that has promoted infrastructure investment and deployment." He said the agency will "continue to closely monitor the situation." The FCC said the call was with ACA Connects, the Cloud Communications Alliance, Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, Incompas, NCTA, NTCA, Rural Wireless Association, Satellite Industry Association, Wireless ISP Association, Western Telecommunications Alliance, Altice, AT&T, CenturyLink, Charter, Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated Communications, Comcast, Cox, Dish Network, Frontier, Hughes, Mediacom, Northwest Fiber, Sprint, T-Mobile, TDS, TracFone, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, ViaSat and Windstream. President Donald Trump spoke similarly this week with major ISPs (see 2003310070).