FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

By now, most of you have already had two days of non-stop talk about 5G. So, I was trying to think of a way to mix things up—to keep it fresh. And I came up with an idea. I will deliver my remarks in Spanish. [Chairman Pai proceeded to deliver the remarks in Spanish. Below is a brief translation.]

It's great to be with the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE). I’d like to briefly walk through the latest developments on three key issues where our interests overlap: the transition to ATSC 3.0, the next-generation broadcast television standard; the post-incentive auction repack; and interference involving FM translators.

On March 15, we’ll aim to make progress on many of the issues core to the Federal Communications Commission’s mission: promoting US leadership on 5G, closing the digital divide, advancing public safety, modernizing our media rules, helping rural consumers, and more.

The Federal Communications Commission takes an all-of-the-above approach to public safety, so in addition to meeting our statutory obligations, the Commission is pursuing its own initiatives to strengthen emergency calling.

I’m constantly meeting with the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) and its members for a very practical reason. Actually, make that two practical reasons: One is the race to 5G and the other is the broadcaster repack stemming from the FCC's incentive auction.

On Sept 12, 2018, Reps Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) and Tom O'Halleran (D-AZ) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai expressing concern about the Government Accountability Office report that found the FCC overstated broadband access on Tribal lands. On Nov 1, then-House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Rep Raul Ruiz (D-CA) wrote a similar letter, requesting the FCC to address several questions and outstanding issues with the GAO's findings. 

As the 115th Congress comes to an end, so too has the gambit to invalidate the Federal Communications Commission’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order through the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai released the following statement regarding the failure of the effort to use the CRA to overturn the Restoring Internet Freedom Order: “I’m pleased that a strong bipartisan majority of the US House of Representatives declined to reinstate heavy-handed Internet regulation.

Our two nations are connected by shared values and shared interests, and that is certainly true in the field of communications. Each of our governments is committed to connecting all of our citizens with what I like to call digital opportunity. And on Dec 17, the US Federal Communications Commission and the Israeli Ministry of Communications put this commitment into practice. We convened the first meeting of a new Joint Working Group to exchange information and learn from each other’s experiences.

On Oct 23, 2018, Rep Jared Huffman (D-CA) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai regarding a forbearance petition filed on May 4 with the FCC by USTelecom. [USTelecom was seeking forbearance from the Communications Act's resale and unbundled network element requirements.] "The letters that my constituents submitted to the FCC regarding the petition illustrate the importance of alternative competitive providers in the telecommunications marketplace," Rep Huffman wrote. "I ask that their comments be carefully considered as you review the petition."

On Sept 13, 2018, Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to encourage the FCC to improve the National Broadband Map "by using consumer-reported data to increase the accuracy of the FCC's mobile coverage maps." On Sept 7, all six of Oklahoma's congressional delegates wrote to Chairman Pai to concerning the Mobility Fund PHase II (MF-II) challenge process, writing that, "it is important that that (sic) any funding allocation decisions are based on accurate data."