SiriusXM said Friday its Doctor Radio channel 110, with COVID-19-related medical information programming from New York University Langone Health, is available at no cost. The announcement coincides with the Food and Drug Administration’s expected approval of a COVID-19 vaccine under an emergency use authorization. Listeners can access the channel online via browsers on computers and smartphones, as well as vehicles installed with SiriusXM radios, it said.

Verizon continues to feel COVID-19 effects, Chief Financial Officer Matthew Ellis told a virtual Barclays investor conference Thursday. Last year, Verizon had 3% service revenue growth, he said. Then “COVID came along” and in Q2, “we had the most significant dropdown” of 1.7% year over year, he said. In Q3, “we started to see some of those revenue streams come back as you think about usage fees and whatnot,” he said. “International roaming has not started bouncing back at all and probably will not for some time period.” Verizon expects “multiple revenue streams” from 5G, unlike in other generations, Ellis said. “Mobility will continue to be an incredibly strong part of our revenue stream, and it's important that we have postpaid customers there.” The carrier expects “some revenues” from next-generation business-to-business applications next year, “but really we don't expect scaling up of those revenues on the business side until you get into '22,” he said.

History shows companies that invest to “tech-enable” their operations during a recession “tend to become more resilient to future shocks,” so delaying digital transformation projects during the pandemic would be a critical “mistake,” reported GlobalData Thursday. It cited Intel’s decision to continue investing in R&D during the 2008 recession, concluding that the strategy “put it several years ahead of competitors.” But enterprises have taken a “conservative approach” toward IT spending in 2020, though remote work should have prompted organizations to speed digital transformations, it said. “Targeted, tactical digital transformation will be vital for companies to survive in the new world,” said GlobalData.

That the one PC in the average home was used “episodically” pre-pandemic “caught some people flatfooted” when COVID-19 hit, said Matt Baker, Dell Technologies senior vice president-strategy and planning, at a virtual Raymond James investor conference. “People are turning to the PC because it’s a flexible platform on which they can perform a myriad of tasks, from working through a spreadsheet to watching a Netflix movie.” Adoption of multiple PCs in the average home is a tech trend that’s bound to stick “for quite some time to come,” Baker said Tuesday. “One PC per household is no longer sufficient.” Consumer behavior toward tech changed during the crisis, and the change is “likely to be deeper and longer-lasting” than many realize, he said. Companies that haven’t invested in their digital transformation “have suffered disproportionately” through the pandemic, said Baker. “Leaders” in digital transformation “have really weathered the storm a lot better,” he said. “That’s going to motivate people to invest even more than they may have in the past.” Dell sees that “as a catalyst for growth going forward and a tailwind coming out of what has been a headwind for many industries from the impact of the pandemic,” he said.

America’s Public Television Stations, NAB and PBS joined 11 news media organizations Tuesday to urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to include front-line journalists in the COVID-19 vaccine's early deployment phases, right behind essential workers, healthcare workers and first responders. “Journalists have taken on an even more essential role, serving as the connective fabric for Americans who are isolated and physically separated from each other, and informing them of the constantly evolving risks in their individual communities,” the groups said in a letter to a CDC advisory committee. “Journalists cannot simply work from home, but must interact with government officials and the public to report on the stories that matter, regardless of the risks they must assume.” Members of the media “are necessarily exposed to the COVID-19 virus while doing their jobs and serving as ‘first informers’ in local communities across the country,” they said. CDC officials didn't respond to questions.

Citing the pandemic, Comcast extended its free internet service offer through June 30 for the first 60 days for new Internet Essentials customers, it said Monday. It's continuing to offer free access to more than 1.5 million public Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots through then.

NATOA will fully virtualize its Sept. 21-23 annual conference due to the pandemic, the local telecom officer association said in a Monday e-newsletter. NATOA's 2020 conference was also virtual; the group plans to meet physically in Denver in 2022.

DocuSign is thriving as a cloud software services provider during the pandemic, as COVID-19 speeds the digital transformation of key business processes by two to four years or more, said CEO Dan Springer on a fiscal Q3 investor call Thursday. Revenue in the quarter ended Oct. 31 grew 53% from a year earlier, he said. When customers go from paper-based processes to digital, “they do not go back,” he said. “We believe that trend will hold when the pandemic subsides.” Though substantial “global, social and economic challenges undoubtedly remain, we believe we are still just scratching the surface of our long-term opportunity,” he said. The stock closed 5.3% higher Friday at $243.22.

New rules for the Rural Health Care program will be fully effective for the remainder of FY 2020, said the FCC Wireline Bureau in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. The effective date was accelerated “in light of changed circumstances” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Software developers “have made demonstrable progress at recognizing masked faces” using face-scanning technology, the National Institute of Standards and Technology reported Tuesday (see 2007270065). The highest scoring technology made errors between 2.4 and 5% of the time on masked faces, "comparable to where the technology was in 2017 on nonmasked photos,” said NIST study author Mei Ngan. Error rates dropped by as much as a “factor of 10 between their pre- and post-COVID algorithms,” she said. NIST tested technology from Canon, Intel, Panasonic, Samsung and dozens of others.