Newest FCC Members Meet with Tech Companies, Groups
SAN FRANCISCO -- FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel are visiting the Bay Area and Silicon Valley this week, meeting with prominent technology companies and some advocacy groups that are pushing technology policy at the agency. The two toured Verizon’s regional innovation center and AT&T’s Foundry -- each set up to liaise with the technology development community here. They met with Apple, Netflix, Google, Twitter and Facebook, Pai said. “Part of the reason we wanted to come to California was to get a sense of what drives innovation and investment growth in what I think most people would agree is the most dynamic part of our economy,” Pai told us.
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The two commissioners also participated in roundtables with TechNet, a technology policy advocacy group, and Engine Advocacy. They were scheduled to visit Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. So far, the companies have seemed pleased to see the commissioners leave Washington, Pai said. Companies seem happy to discuss areas where the FCC can set up rules and processes “that will allow the great work being done here to continue and increase,” he said.
In addition to the items scheduled for a vote at the Aug. 3 open meeting, Pai identified two issues that could see some activity next month. They're the mandatory data requests related to special access that were a topic of congressional interest at a recent House Communications Subcommittee FCC oversight hearing, and finalizing some of the remaining issues with the WCS band, he said. Pai said he enjoys and hopes to maintain a good working relationship with his colleagues. The issue of the 700 MHz public safety waivers also has to be addressed, he said. Though he issued his first dissent to an order this week, on the Tennis Channel’s program carriage complaint against Comcast (CD July 26 p5), he said the disagreements with the majority of commissioners weren’t personal or “so sharp as to become the norm rather than the exception,” he said.
Pai’s colleagues on the commission have seemed receptive to the idea of speeding up FCC processes, he said. Certainly, those outside the commission have made their frustration known, he said. “You have members of Congress on both sides of the aisle who are asking about proceedings that have been sitting around for years. And that’s something I think that resonates with Congress -- that the agency needs to be more responsive and nimble.”