Ivey Says Carr Abusing FCC's Power in Pushing Companies to Scrap DEI

Carr’s letter to Verizon accused the provider of “invidious discrimination,” which is “a very strong statement with respect to constitutional law,” Ivey said. Black people “have had real trouble proving invidious discrimination over the past six decades in civil rights litigation, voting rights litigation,” he said. Ivey said he asked Carr during a recent hearing (see 2505210074) whether he had instructed FCC staff to investigate claims of discrimination by Verizon. “He wouldn’t answer the question,” Ivey said.

Ivey said based on a series of questions he asked at the hearing, Carr appeared to hold up Verizon/Frontier without evidence of wrongdoing. “I can’t imagine a more irresponsible exercise of power than that,” Ivey said. The power of the federal government can be “so overwhelming that even large and powerful institutions say, ‘I don’t need that fight right now,’” he said.

A black man who grew up in a still-segregated North Carolina, Ivey said he knows about discrimination. “I know what that looks like,” he said. “DEI is nothing to play with,” Ivey said. The U.S. “has a history that is undeniable of not just discrimination, but invidious discrimination,” he said. “To toy with” the term discrimination and use it this way "is offensive to me,” he said.

Ivey criticized the Trump administration in general and called for more restraint. “You don’t push the envelope on everything that you can,” he said. “You don’t roll over everybody that you can. … It’s not just about winning.”

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said at the conference she still doesn’t know whether President Donald Trump ultimately will fire her. “The FCC is supposed to make decisions based on law, facts and technical expertise, not politics,” she said. Congress established the commissioner as an independent agency because it didn’t want to put all power under the presidency, she said. “Here we find ourselves … watching as this administration takes deliberate steps to usurp the power granted by this Congress to the commission to oversee the communications technologies of our time,” she said.

The agency is using delegated authority to ensure that actions that couldn’t withstand judicial review will never make it to court, Gomez said. The FCC’s approval of various transactions, questions raised on EchoStar spectrum (see 2505130003), and the delay of incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines (see 2507100061) were all done in a way that makes them “indefensible and unreviewable,” she said.

In brief remarks, Carr highlighted the work the FCC is doing on cutting regulatory red tape. He didn’t announce any new initiatives or discuss recent transactions or DEI. “We need to do permitting reform,” he said. “At the end of the day, it still takes too long and costs too much to build internet infrastructure in this country,” he said. Carr promised to quickly make more spectrum available for 5G. “We are hitting the ground running … to get more auctions, get more spectrum out there,” he said.

Carr credited former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel for her push to promote the U.S. space industry. “We’re cutting through backlogs that we had, we’re reforming the approach that Space Bureau is taking,” he said. “We’re also looking at national security,” he said. “We not only want to have the best networks, we want to have the most secure.”

Former acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn was supportive of many of the initiatives started under Carr, including making spectrum available for 5G and addressing pole attachment rules. Clyburn slammed the delay in IPCS rules, though, noting that the FCC had “punted” on making a decision for 10 years. “Regulatory uncertainty does not work for any of us,” she said. “Anything you do quickly … or with questionable intent does not benefit any of us.” Clyburn called the delay “heartbreaking” and “a continuation of regulatory malpractice.”

Measuring Success

Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said success at the FCC can be measured by one metric, “has something been built.” The way to measure that is capital expenditures by industry, he said. There are five major companies to follow on capex: Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile in wireless, and Charter and Comcast in cable, Hundt said. Since the start of the Biden administration, all five have spent a lot on their networks, he said.

Carr inherited a situation where the stock prices of the major providers “are a major concern for the CEOs and boards and there are headwinds for capital expenditures,” Hundt said. He warned that the copper retirement push under Carr “is not a plus for capital expenditures,” he said. “You don’t necessarily take that money and reinvest it,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s the wrong thing to do,” he said. The “biggest headwind” is the supply chain, especially with the current tariffs, he said. There’s also a lot of anxiety about the economy, he said.