Wheeler Says He Will Focus on Role of FCC in Changing World
The role the FCC will play “in the changing communications landscape” will be a top focus of new Chairman Tom Wheeler, he said in a blog post Tuesday, based in part on his opening remarks to staff at the agency’s headquarters that day. Wheeler offered his first comments since taking office the previous day, though he didn’t address FCC policy at a more detailed level. Many industry observers are awaiting the Wheeler commission’s first big decisions to get more of a bead on the new chairman’s regulatory philosophy (CD Nov 1 p1). The speech itself was closed to the public.
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Wheeler said there is an “historic compact” between networks and their customers, in the blog post (http://fcc.us/1cCIDhM). “A change in technology may occasion a review of the rules, but it does not change the rights of users or the responsibilities of networks,” he said. Promoting economic and technological innovation is important, he said. So is making sure “networks work for everyone,” wrote Wheeler. What happens to more Internet capacity is as important as “what we will be doing with that capacity,” he said. “How networks enable a 21st century educational system, enable the expansion of capabilities for Americans with disabilities; and assure diversity, localism and speech are basic underpinnings of our responsibility."
Wheeler said he’s hanging in his office a poster from 1839 Philadelphia full of warnings from those opposed to the interconnection of two rail lines. The poster reads “Mothers Look Out for Your Children,” and “Philadelphians your rights are being invaded,” Wheeler said. “All of this, the poster proclaimed, was in ‘Violation of the Law.’ I hung the poster as a reminder that the challenges and the passions with which we deal are neither unique nor new."
At the time he was tapped for the FCC, Wheeler said he was working on a book about network revolutions in history. “All of the new networks of history created upheaval as incumbents struggled to adapt while maintaining their position, insurgents fought for their rightful place, and the people had to adapt to a changing world,” he wrote Tuesday. “It is an historical reality that network change produces tempers that boil, voices that rise, and cries of alarm.”
New FCC Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman, meanwhile, didn’t attend an FCBA Wireless Committee lunch Tuesday, after she was appointed Monday, leaving her former position as Wireless Bureau chief. Acting bureau Chief James Schlichting stood in for her, along with the rest of the front office staff. Schlichting told a packed luncheon he expects Roger Sherman to start as the new acting chief in two weeks after he was also appointed Monday (CD Nov 5 p1). Sherman stopped by the FCC Monday to introduce himself to bureau staff, Schlichting said.
Many of the questions related to pending auctions. Deputy Bureau Chief John Leibovitz was asked whether the AWS-3 auction could potentially drive down demand and prices for the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. “We've thought about it, we think about all these things,” he said. “It’s fairly routine to think about that when you hold an auction.” It’s hard for regulators to judge demand until they are close to an auction, and “there’s a lot of factors that can affect demand,” Leibovitz said. The AWS-1 and 700 MHz auction happened with little delay and both proved successful, he said. “We have a statute that’s sort of directing us on a timetable, which we're going to follow."
Leibovitz said the FCC may have to hold an AWS-3 auction in late 2014 to meet deadlines in last year’s spectrum law. “The reply comment period just closed and we have a pretty substantive record from the FCC’s standpoint” on AWS-3 auction rules, Leibovitz said. The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee “did a huge amount of work, much, but not all of that has been transmitted to the FCC officially,” he said. “There’s probably more discussion to be had.” Leibovitz expressed optimism, but said, “I don’t want to minimize the amount of work that needs to happen.”
Leibovitz was asked whether broadcast auxiliary service spectrum at 2095-2110 MHz was being looked at for pairing with 1695-1710 MHz spectrum as one part of an AWS-3 auction. Carriers recently abandoned arguments the BAS spectrum might be a good pairing after a fight with broadcasters (CD Oct 30 p2). “It’s well known there’s some complexity associated with that band and multiple incumbents,"Leibovitz said. “Ultimately, the commission will decide what bands are on the table or off the table."
Schlichting said the 16-day partial federal government shutdown slowed progress on items from positive train control to review of AT&T buying Leap. Schlichting joked that from as far as he could tell there was little “illegal BlackBerrying” during the shutdown, with staff not using their BlackBerry phones in contravention of federal rules. “It’s really hard to say,” he said. “With regard to 700 MHz interoperability, we came back, we knew it was a priority to move forward on that. ... With regard to other things, we've had to reschedule things and move them back.” Wheeler has already signaled “he’s ready to get up and go,” Schlichting said. “I think he has said that he’s planning to hit the ground running and that’s what we all anticipate.”