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Pai Instructs FCC Staff to Focus on Quicker Approval of New Wireless Proposals

The FCC will “breathe life” into Section 7 of the Communications Act and will determine within a year whether any proposal for a new technology or service is in the public interest, Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday in a speech at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, webcast from Pittsburgh. The agency posted Pai’s remarks. Pai said he's directing staff to follow Section 7 and is charging the Office of Engineering and Technology with making sure the FCC adheres to the law.

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Unfortunately, the FCC hasn’t enforced Section 7,” Pai said. “When someone proposes a new technology or service, we don’t make a concerted effort to say yes or no within a year. Indeed, the FCC rarely mentions Section 7, let alone abides by it. But that changes now.” For Section 7 to apply, a petitioner must propose a genuinely new technology or service, Pai said. “OET will make an independent assessment of this,” he said. “If the technology or service isn’t new, it won’t qualify for speedier treatment.”

Pai cited as an example of Section 7 in action the current inquiry into the use of bands above 95 GHz. “Those frequencies haven’t traditionally been used for mobile wireless technologies,” Pai said. “Instead of having regulators decide which frequencies are useful, we should put spectrum out there as a test bed and leave it to the innovators to figure out how to use it. Applications for experimentation above the 95 GHz band could qualify for Section 7 treatment. And this determination, in turn, could accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge wireless services and other innovations.”

The U.S. led the world on 4G and must do the same on 5G, Pai said. “We’ve authorized operators to launch 5G trials at cellsites across America,” he said. “They’ll be starting those trials by the middle of this year. And we’re currently considering whether to open up even more spectrum in the millimeter wave bands for 5G and other uses. It’s my intent to move forward quickly to do just that.”

Pai spoke as part of his ongoing focus on digital empowerment (see 1701230058). The tech sector already is bringing jobs to Pittsburgh and other once hard-hit communities, he said. A key focus of the Trump administration has been on jobs.

Looking at some of our nation’s top-level economic indicators over the past few years, you would think people might have been feeling pretty good about how things are going,” Pai said. "The official unemployment rate, after all, has been under 5 percent. But those statistics too often haven’t matched people’s daily reality. Last November, the American people sent a pretty loud message that they felt something different. And the results from Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio sent perhaps the loudest message of all."

Pai took 25 minutes of questions after he spoke. He was asked point blank what the FCC will do on net neutrality. “I think it’s a pretty straight-forward issue,” he said. “I favor, as many Americans do, a free and open internet. The only question is what legal and regulatory framework best secures that value.” The internet grew starting in the 1990s because of “bipartisan” recognition that the FCC should take a light-touch approach “and if there was a company behaving in an anticompetitive way or otherwise harming consumers, then we would take targeted action,” he said. “That’s generally the approach that served us well” for two decades, he said.

Broadband deployment is a concern across the U.S., Pai said. From Fort Yukon, Alaska, to Starkville, Mississippi, “I have yet to hear someone say, ‘Well, I want better internet access because that’s a Republican idea or that’s a Democratic idea,'” he said. “They simply want internet access because they think it’s going to better their lives.” Pai noted he outlined his proposals for digital empowerment in September (see 1609130061), before Donald Trump was elected president and he subsequently became chairman.

In meetings with members of Congress, Pai said he gets lots of support for his proposals from gigabit opportunity zones and making sure wireless innovation benefits all consumers. “This is an area where we can come together,” he said. Digital empowerment “is within our bailiwick” and “it’s something we could all share credit for.” Pai said he's concerned about broadband deployment for everyone. “I’ve already met with a number of consumer advocates,” he said. His first meetings as chairman were with “minority advocates, LGBT advocates, elder advocates,” he said.

Pai also said he sees lots of promise in ATSC 3.0, which will offer capabilities to broadcast emergency alerts in a much more targeted way. The FCC’s goal is to “leverage the power of broadcasting, which is after all that one to many architecture, with the power of the internet, with that highly specific one-to-one connection,” Pai said. “It’s really exciting.” ATSC 3.0 also will allow the delivery of HD video to smartphones “in a way that can’t simply happen right now,” he said.

Pai said he sees great potential for the industrial IoT. “To that extent that we can maximize wireless connectivity across the country, including some of the areas where it doesn’t currently exist, I can imagine some great IoT startups taking advantage of those networks, for sensors, for example, which require very limited bandwidth,” he said. Building better networks will also mean “a lot of good blue-collar jobs for a lot of people,” he said. For parts of the U.S., these jobs “could really be a game changer,” he said.

The FCC will look at ways to streamline the rules for amateur radio operators, Pai said. “I love my ham radio folks,” he said. Pai said he wants to sit down with staff to examine potential changes, something he hasn't had a chance to do. “From my hometown to Washington, we hear from ham radio operators all the time,” he said.

CTIA appreciates Pai's "acknowledgement that swift consideration of innovative technologies such as those needed to deploy 5G infrastructure is essential to maintaining America’s position as a global wireless leader,” said Scott Bergmann, vice president-regulatory affairs. Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics, said “anything that will help companies to invest faster and more money, as well as bring new technologies quicker to Americans, is welcome news.”

Enforcing Section 7’s one-year shot clock “could definitely help innovators and entrepreneurs who lack the deep pockets to endure uncertain timelines for a decision,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. “Early public notice and comment will also help the commission come to a quicker decision.” Pai should ensure OET “has the resources it needs to meet strict deadlines,” Calabrese said. “New technologies often pose novel spectrum sharing and interference concerns, and since OET is already over-worked they will need more resources to deliver on Chairman Pai’s laudable reform.”

Carnegie Mellon has been the Silicon Valley of robotics for several decades, so it’s the ideal venue for kicking off an innovation agenda,” said Richard Bennett, network architect and free-market blogger. “Easing the path of new technologies and services to the market is critical for the kinds of economic stimulus America needs today, and the FCC’s track record on this front hasn’t always been exemplary. Chairman Pai’s remarks on freeing up more spectrum, supporting advances such as 5G and LTE-U, and bringing advanced networks to unserved areas are all very encouraging.”