FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

Since my first day on the job, this agency has been focused on cutting through the regulatory red tape and increasing broadband investment, most importantly in rural America where the digital divide remains all too real. Today’s report confirms that the FCC’s policies to promote broadband deployment are working. After Internet service providers reduced new investments in 2015 and 2016 under the prior Administration’s regulatory approach, broadband investment increased in 2017 by $1.5 billion over the previous year.

I'd like to share what we are doing at the Federal Communications Commission to seize the opportunities of connected health. 

Even though efforts to restore communications services have been going well in most of the areas affected by Hurricane Michael, the slow progress in restoring wireless service in areas close to where the hurricane made landfall is completely unacceptable. While the Federal Communications Commission has been in regular contact with companies serving the affected areas, I’m concerned that their actions on the ground aren’t matching the urgency that we have conveyed during those conversations.

In a letter to New Mexico lawmakers, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said that a tribal broadband order approved in 2018 wrongly cuts out certain tribal telecom companies in that state. This exclusion had been a source of concern for representatives like Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) about the FCC’s order, which allowed telecom companies serving tribal lands to get more funding to cover operational expenses.

Data from the Federal Communications Commission’s Disaster Information Reporting System shows that Hurricane Michael caused substantial communications outages along its destructive path.

Closing the digital divide is the Federal Communications Commission’s top priority. The best way to make sure every American has better, faster, cheaper Internet access is to set a market-based regulatory framework that promotes competition and increases network investment. We also want to promote competition and innovation that could transform the marketplace.  The FCC has made facilitating the rollout of 5G a major priority. One economic analysis of our [5G] reforms projects that they will cut about $2 billion in costs, unleashing $2.4 billion in extra investment.

I was at the White House for a summit on 5G. Notably, this summit was spearheaded by the National Economic Council. NEC’s ownership of this event tells us that the White House sees wireless innovation as an issue of economic competitiveness, first and foremost. And I think that’s exactly right. 

Closing that divide will require both public sector and private sector leadership. With respect to the latter, Connect2Compete is setting the pace. Connect2Compete is a bold private-sector initiative to tackle the issue of broadband affordability. Altogether, more than 400,000 low-income Americans have been connected through Cox’s efforts during the last six years. This program has had a major positive impact on people’s lives. According to one survey, for example, most parents reported that their children’s grades improved after they enrolled in the program. Even better days are ahead.

The Federal Communications Commission's October agenda will address three issues critical to advancing the 5G FAST Plan—creating more opportunities for unlicensed innovation in the 6 GHz band, expanding spectrum opportunities for 5G in the 3.5 GHz band, and updating our business data services rules for smaller, rural carriers in order to promote fiber deployment.

I’m pleased the Department of Justice has filed this suit. The Internet is inherently an interstate information service. As such, only the federal government can set policy in this area. And the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently reaffirmed that state regulation of information services is preempted by federal law. Not only is California’s Internet regulation law illegal, it also hurts consumers. The law prohibits many free-data plans, which allow consumers to stream video, music, and the like exempt from any data limits.