Chairman Pai's Response to Reps Meng, Clyburn, Cox, Khanna, and Axne Regarding the Educational Broadband Service or 2.5GHz

On July 29, 2019, Reps Grace Meng (D-NY), James Clyburn (D-SC), TJ Cox (D-CA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Cindy Axne (D-IA) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to express strong disapproval of the FCC's elimination of the educational requirements for the Educational Broadband Services (EBS) in the "Transforming the 2.5 GHz Band" Report and Order. "While there are elements of the FCC's action that benefit Tribal Nations-which we support- the disregard for the longstanding educational purposes of the 2.5 GHz spectrum is troubling and ill-advised," the wrote. "As Members of the House Majority Whip's Task Force on Rural Broadband, we urge you to reverse this decision."

On Dec 31, 2019, Chairman Pai responded by saying that the 2.5 GHz band offers great potential for supporting the deployment of wireless broadband services across the country, but unfortunately that potential has not been recognized in the nearly six-decade experience with the band. "The band—a public resource—is especially unused west of the Mississippi River. Moreover, what spectrum is in use is typically leased to commercial carriers by 'nonprofit' middlemen, including some that have found a lucrative revenue stream to use for their own political advocacy, not the education of America’s children." He continued, "This public resource should be devoted to the public—not to those who have indulged arbitrage for too many years. The best way to deliver mobile broadband services using the 2.5 GHz band, and thus to help close the digital divide across rural America, is to make it directly available through transparent, well-established FCC mechanisms." Chairman Pai then described the FCC's three-step strategy to facilitate the rapid deployment of wireless broadband services.