The Dragonslayer: An Interview with FCC Chairman Wheeler

A Q&A with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.

Two years ago, John Oliver called Tom Wheeler a dingo. The host of Last Week Tonight had set his sights on the then-raging network neutrality debate, acerbically calling out broadband providers like Comcast and Verizon for their throttling antics and intense Congressional lobbying. Midway through the segment, Oliver dryly pointed to President Barack Obama’s appointment of former cable and wireless lobbyist Chairman Wheeler as the new head of the Federal Communications Commission — "the equivalent of needing a babysitter and hiring a dingo." But Chairman Wheeler pushed back against Oliver and various other critics (including me) who felt the FCC was soft-pedaling on net neutrality and on regulating telecom companies in general. And in the past year of his chairmanship, the FCC has turned into a sharply pro-consumer and pro-competition agency: with the passage of the Open Internet Order, net neutrality is now the law; upcoming rules will prevent carriers from collecting and selling user data without permission; a spectrum auction next month will lay the groundwork for 5G mobile internet; and now Chairman Wheeler has his sights set on making TV providers open their cable networks. Chairman Wheeler was candid and direct about his desire to protect upstarts. "You know my mantra," he says. "Competition, competition, competition." Far from being captured by telecom companies, Chairman Wheeler seems to relish the insight his lobbying history has given him about their operations. And he’s using that insight to fight the multi-headed dragons of the television, wireless, and broadband industries on multiple battlefields, all at once. And he’s winning.