Trump’s new FCC chairman calls for ‘regulatory humility’ on 5G

Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has called for a greater degree of “regulatory humility” to open the door to greater investment in 5G and fibre networks.

Chairman Pai defended the decision to do away with hard-fought rules on network neutrality that forbid broadband providers from blocking or limiting internet traffic from some content providers while selling “fast lanes” to others. He said that spending by telecoms companies had fallen after the regulations were introduced which he attributed to “heavy-handed legal framework applied by the FCC” that had deterred investment. “Infrastructure spending is lower today than in 2015. That does not benefit consumers,” he said. Chairman Pai argued that telecoms companies needed to be offered incentives to justify the billions of dollars of investment in 5G and fibre networks and has moved to deregulate the industry as a result. “My goal is to return to the goals of the open internet,” he said, rebuffing accusations that the removal of net neutrality regulations would lead to telecoms companies manipulating internet access to favour certain services.