Pai's Moves Ahead of FCC Hearing

The Federal Communications Commission supplied Democratic leaders on the House Commerce Committee with an update on a long-running probe of wireless carriers’ unauthorized disclosure of subscriber location data to third parties. Those lawmakers last month requested that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai arrange for an update to Congress by Nov. 29 — and Chairman Pai is set to testify before the House Telecom Subcommittee on Dec 5, which would give Democrats a chance to air any grievances directly. 

The FCC chief also just made another move likely to please Democrats. Several committee Democrats as well as a bipartisan mix of senators recently asked Chairman Pai to give more time to tribes in opening up the airwaves of the so-called Educational Broadband Service of 2.5 GHz. Chairman Pai announced he would extend that filing window and scheduled a workshop for January.