FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

I commend the US Senate for passing the TRACED Act and Sens John Thune (R-SD) and Ed Markey (D-MA) for leading this bipartisan effort. The TRACED Act would help strengthen the FCC’s ability to combat illegal robocalls, and we would welcome these additional tools to fight this scourge. Further powers like increased fines, longer statutes of limitations, and removing citation requirements which obligate us to warn some robocallers before penalizing them, will significantly improve our already strong robocall enforcement efforts.

On April 10, 2019, Sens John Thune (R-SD) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai in support of eliminating the Universal Service Fund High-Cost program's rate floor rule and ending the federal mandate that increases telephone rates for rural Americans. The senators called the rule "inherently flawed and unnecessary." On May 6, Chairman Pai wrote back to say that the FCC had eliminated the rule. "consider this a big win for rural Americans—we repealed a defacto federal government mandate that increased rates paid by rural Americans."

I was particularly encouraged to see that 40 state attorneys general formed a bipartisan Robocall Technologies Working Group. I recently shared with my colleagues my proposal to allow phone companies to establish callblocking services as a default setting for consumers. In addition, carriers would be allowed to offer consumers the option of using their own contact list as a “white list.” Now, my proposals on call-blocking by default and a white list are part of what’s called a Declaratory Ruling.

Two of the Federal Communications Commission’s top priorities are closing the digital divide in rural America and advancing United States leadership in 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity. The commitments made today by T-Mobile and Sprint would substantially advance each of these critical objectives.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement regarding the President’s Executive Order to protect our nation’s communications networks and the security of the communications supply chain: “Protecting America’s communications networks is vital to our national, economic, and personal security. I therefore applaud the President for issuing this Executive Order to safeguard the communications supply chain. Given the threats presented by certain foreign companies’ equipment and services, this is a significant step toward securing America’s

What is the Federal Communications Commission doing to make the future of Wi-Fi brighter? The answer is: a lot!  I know there’s a lot of excitement about what we’re doing in the 6 GHz band—what could be a massive, 1,200-megahertz test bed for innovators and innovation. But first I’d like to talk about its next-door neighbor on the spectrum chart—the 5.9 GHz band. There’s been a lot of debate about this band, and I’d like to share with you today my view on the right way forward.  I believe that the time has come for the FCC to take a fresh look at this band.

In written testimomny before the Senate Committee On Appropriations' Subcommittee On Financial Services And General Government, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai outlined the commission's priorities for the next year:

On March 13, 2019, Sens Tina Smith (D-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) wrote to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai requesting an investigation into the business practices of Frontier Communications Corporation, and its subsidiary Citizens Telecommunications Company of Minnesota, LLC. In 2018, hundreds of consumer complaints across the state prompted the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to request the Minnesota Department of Commerce (Department) to open an investigation into Frontier's quality of internet and telephone service, billing practices, and customer service.

On February 14, 2019, 11 US senators wrote to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai with concerns about broadband mapping problems. They asked the following questions:

On March 14, 2019, Sen John Kennedy (R-LA) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai with concerns about a proposal made by a consortium of foreign-owned satellite providers known as the C-Band Alliance (CBA). On April 25, Chairman Pai wrote Sen Kennedy saying, "In the C-band proceeding, we are aiming to balance a number of interests. One of those interests is American leadership in 50, the next generation of wireless connectivity. C-band spectrum could provide significant benefits as we enter the world of 5G.