Chairman Pai defends net neutrality repeal

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai defended the recent repeal of network neutrality rules, saying that the move was necessary to increase competition among internet service providers. “The effects of these regulations were holding back investment and innovation,” Chairman Pai said. “The number one concern I hear consistently from consumers is that 'we don’t have internet access at all,' or 'we don’t have enough competition — we’re locked into one provider.' The solution to that is not heavily regulating something out of Washington, making it even harder for a company to build a business case for deployment.”

Ultimately, Chairman Pai said that the net neutrality rules were unfairly affecting small internet service providers, leading to a lack of potential to bridge the "digital divide."  “Smaller companies that perhaps none of you have heard of, these are the companies that are critical to providing access and competition. These are the companies that bore the brunt of these regulations,” Pai said. “When it comes to something like the digital divide, all of us gain when Americans are connected.” But only so much can be done at the federal level to address the divide, so some of the responsibility falls on states, Pai said. 

“I think the most important thing that state officials could do…is to create a consistent set of policies. If you are a company, big or small, it is difficult, if not prohibitive, to jump through the hoops of regulatory review on the federal level, on the state level, on the perhaps thousands of municipalities that are involved,” Pai said. “One of the things we’re trying to do is create a consistent set of rules that companies can work around.”