Upcoming event

Since becoming Chairman, I have consistently emphasized the need for the Commission’s regulations to match realities of the current marketplace. Our rules must reflect today’s technological and economic conditions, not those of yesterday. And at this month’s open meeting, we will advance this objective by focusing on whether to update or scrap outdated rules. That’s why we’re dubbing September .

Public policy has probably never been more important for the US wireless industry as it will be over the next several years. And the schedule for Mobile World Congress Americas underscores that. Legislative and regulatory issues will play a major role at the trade show, starting with the first keynote Sept 12 featuring Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and CTIA CEO Margaret Attwell Baker. Other discussions include a panel analyzing the FCC’s incentive auction of 600 MHz spectrum, a look at unmanned aerial services hosted by CTIA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Jackie McCarthy and a round table examining how the coming transition to 5G is spurring new efforts to streamline siting processes. And that’s just day one.

On August 4, 2017, the Commission released the Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF II) Auction Comment Public Notice, seeking comment on detailed proposals for conducting the Phase II reverse auction designated as Auction 903. While many of the pre-auction and bidding procedures and processes proposed for this auction are similar to those used in other Commission auctions, the proposals include some new procedures and processes. To facilitate public input on the proposals, the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force announces that the Wireless Telecommunications and Wireline Competition Bureaus will host a webinar about the proposed auction process on September 11, 2017, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET.

The House Commerce Committee has switched gears and will hold a Sept. 7 hearing on the post-incentive auction repack in its Communications Subcommittee. The committee had planned to hold a high-profile hearing on network neutrality on that date, but sources say that has been indefinitely postponed. Now, the Communications subcommittee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. titled “The Broadcast Incentive Auction: Update on Repacking Opportunities and Challenges.” No witnesses had been set at press time. The repack will be getting in gear this fall, with almost a thousand TV stations having to move to make room for wireless operators in the swaths of broadcast spectrum purchased in the spectrum auction.

August 30th could very well mark the official beginning of the end for the Open Internet. With the closing of the public comment period for the Federal Communications Commission’s proceeding to repeal the 2015 Net Neutrality rules, the record is now full of tens of millions of comments, many of them demonstrably fake. Incredibly, it doesn’t even matter if the facts are real or alternative because FCC Chairman Ajit Pai intends to ignore them all so that he can eliminate the rules and protections for Internet users and innovators as quickly as possible – which also explains why he refuses to make public information that is critical to his FCC’s decision making.

It’s no secret that American consumers regardless of party affiliation overwhelmingly support basic rules that protect them and the Open Internet they increasingly depend upon. They expect and deserve the freedom to choose what they see, buy, hear and share. They made that abundantly clear earlier this year when Congress rushed to repeal another set of Internet consumer protections, the broadband privacy rules, and they will do so again. If Chairman Pai intends to pursue that same rash, anti-consumer agenda and expects a different result, he is fooling himself.

As previously announced, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) will host a public workshop on September 11, 2017 to discuss best practices for improving situational awareness during 911 outages. By this Public Notice, the Bureau announces the agenda and panelists for the workshop.

The next meeting of the Consumer Advisory Committee will take place on Monday, September 18, 2017, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Commission’s headquarters building. At its September 18, 2017 meeting, the Committee is expected to consider a recommendation from its Robocalls Working Group regarding blocking of unwanted calls. The Committee will also receive briefings from Commission staff on issues of interest to the Committee.

Saturday, Aug 26, Free Press’ News Voices: North Carolina project will host The News Charlotte Needs: A Public Forum on the Role of Journalism in Tackling Inequity. We’ll bring together local residents, media makers, activists, artists and others to sit down with reporters and discuss the stories they think the city needs to move from talk to action. News Voices forums use structured, small-group conversations to give everyone who attends an opportunity to speak.

Network neutrality advocates have set Sept 27 for their next coordinated protest of rolling back the Title II classification, as the Republican-majority Federal Communications Commission has proposed. The July 12 network Day of Action was an online and FCC-centric protest, the Sept 27 Day of Advocacy will be about facetime with policymakers, both on the Hill and at the FCC. According to Public Knowledge, one of the backers of the protest, the September event will feature participants going to Capitol Hill to make their case. The next day the protest will move to the FCC for the monthly open meeting to "let the commissioners know how you feel about net neutrality."

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) will deliver the keynote speech at the INCOMPAS Show Oct. 15-17 in San Francisco (CA). Rep Eshoo represents Silicon Valley and INCOMPAS members comprise some major edge players, including Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Netflix, as well as competitive carriers.

“In her role on the Communications and Technology Subcommittee [she is the former ranking member], Rep. Eshoo has established herself as one of the foremost leaders on technology and telecommunications, advocating for laws that protect consumers and promote competition,” said INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering in a statement. “We are honored to welcome Rep. Eshoo to The INCOMPAS Show and hear her insights on many of the issues of importance to our audience – from Open internet and broadband deployment to the need for additional wireless spectrum.