Pai Tells CES US Will Lead the World on 5G; Simons Seeking Privacy Law

“It’s unimaginable what the benefits could be” of Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz band, Pai said. We’ll someday view this as “the Stone Age of Wi-Fi,” he said.

The FCC is dedicated to making enough spectrum available to keep up with 5G and ensuring providers build the necessary infrastructure, Pai said: “We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire.” There were 13,000 small cells when he became chairman, and 200,000 today, he said: “We would like to see that grow to meet the needs of all Americans.” Also needed is “deeper” fiber penetration so it won’t be a “bottleneck” for 5G, Pai said.

Shapiro asked if 5G is for urban and suburban markets. “We’re still in the early stages,” Pai said. Some rural use cases “are appealing as well, for example, fixed wireless solutions.” Pai cited precision agriculture and remote medicine.

Shapiro started by asking Pai about net neutrality. It has become “more of a political issue than a policy one,” Pai said. There are “core principles of an open internet that we all agree on,” he said, listing no-blocking or throttling and no anti-competitive conduct. “I’ve just described in five seconds a bill that should sail through Congress,” he said. “I’m just focused on what matters to the American consumer.”

People don’t care “about the political back and forth in Washington on this issue and others,” Pai said. “There’s a larger political impulse motivating a lot of this debate.” Speeds and deployment have increased since the FCC deregulatory vote, which largely overturned 2015 rules, Pai said. “Thanks to our efforts more Americans than ever before, faster than ever before, are able to hate-tweet their favorite FCC chairman,” he joked.

This was Pai’s first trip to the show as chairman. He missed two years ago because of security concerns after the FCC's 2017 net neutrality vote and last year because of the federal government shutdown. He was last here three years ago as a commissioner.

Pai spoke quickly during his 30-minute interview with Shapiro. The CTA chief asked him to slow his answers at one point so the sign language interpreter could keep up. “You’re speaking in 5G and I think in 4G,” Shapiro joked.

“Privacy concerns are becoming more important seemingly by the minute,” Simons said. "We think it's time” for legislation, he said. If the states do something “that’s relatively consistent, that would be OK,” he said. A federal privacy enforcer “would be a huge mistake," Simons said: "Our folks have a lot of experience. They have a lot of expertise.”

On antitrust, “we want companies to be competitive,” Simons said. “We don’t just break companies up because they’re big,” he said: “That would be very bad policy.” Shapiro responded he appreciates Simons saying "that just being big isn’t necessarily bad." Earlier at the show, Shapiro sought consensus on issues like privacy (see 2001070028).

Simons is concerned about a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in FTC v. Credit Bureau that the agency lacks authority to obtain monetary relief under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act. The section gives the agency the ability to go to court, freeze assets and seek consumer redress, he said. The case is “really impacting the work we do” and could harm overall enforcement, Simons said.

Simons said parts of European privacy law, including the “right to be forgotten,” aren’t enforced everywhere. “Whatever laws we have, we enforce,” he said. There are 1,200 startups very concerned about complying with state-by-state laws, Shapiro said

This was Simons' first visit to CES. “I’m really looking forward to walking around,” he said: “I’m going to be like a little kid in a candy shop.”