Companies Being Called Into FCC To Explain Innovation Is a 'Harm,' Pai Says
Uncertainty about the rules is a problem with the FCC's net neutrality order, Commissioner Ajit Pai said during an interview on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, in a segment to be shown Saturday. He cited Chairman Tom Wheeler’s reaction to T-Mobile’s Binge On service as an example, because Wheeler initially called the service innovative and later said T-Mobile officials should come before the commission to discuss the service. Pai also discussed during the interview FCC enforcement actions, broadband deployment and partisanship at the agency. Though the commission has taken no action against T-Mobile, Pai said its being called in to discuss a new service is a harm. “No company should have to guess” whether its products are allowed under FCC rules, Pai said. The FCC reaction to Binge On sets a precedent of the agency “jumping to the tune” of special interest group protests, Pai said.
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The partisan divide at the FCC is “dispiriting,” Pai said, and he's focusing on issues that cut across party lines, a category in which he included AM revitalization along with broadband deployment. Pai said that 50 percent of FCC meeting votes under Wheeler have been party-line votes, a sharp increase compared with previous administrations. A count of meeting votes for a recent Communications Daily Special Report (see 1512150030) found that the Wheeler-led commission approved items at FCC open meetings with a party-line vote 11 times, compared with two such votes under former Chairman Kevin Martin in 2008 and just one under Former Chairman Julius Genachowski in 2012.
Broadband deployment is Pai’s No. 1 issue as he enters the final year of his term, he said. “We need ubiquitous broadband deployment,” Pai said, adding that it's not a partisan issue and should receive support across party lines. Widespread broadband deployment increases jobs and economic development, especially in rural areas, Pai said.
Pai said he hasn't made any decisions about what he will do when his term expires in June. Pressed on whether he would seek another term on the commission, Pai repeated that he hadn’t considered “next steps” and said he doesn’t have any “political patron” he's asking to recommend him for another term.
Communications Act Title II-based net neutrality rules led to a reduction in capital expenditures on network deployment by ISPs, Pai said. The way to solve the problems those rules were meant to combat is through more competition, Pai said. Others have read the same statistics to say that capex at ISPs have been stable, despite some fears (see 1512280026 and here).
It wouldn’t hurt the incentive auction if the FCC were to release anonymized data about the level of participation, Pai said. He said he hopes the auction is a success, but the commission erred in setting aside certain spectrum that only some companies can bid on. “The FCC doesn’t do the public any favors when it excludes certain companies from participating in the auction," he said.
The FCC’s enforcement process has “gone off the rails,” Pai said, condemning recent enforcement actions as focusing more on headlines than the facts of the violations. Pai said he repeatedly asked for information about upcoming enforcement actions and was rebuffed. When an FCC commissioner can’t find out about the enforcement process, “we’ve got a problem,” he said.