Wireless Industry Representatives Seek Light-Touch FCC Regulation
Representatives of wireless companies and industry groups called for the FCC to take a light-touch regulatory approach in the wireless and infrastructure space, and addressed the industry's need for additional spectrum, during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council event Thursday. Panelists also discussed the FCC's upcoming broadcast TV incentive auction and its potential impact on wireless providers. And an aide to the agency's chairman said the auction likely will be a success.
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Diane Holland, USTelecom vice president-law and policy, said that she sees regulation as a barrier for expanding the wireless and Internet infrastructure, and that USTelecom wants to make sure that "where regulation is necessary, it isn't overly burdensome." Holland said the wireless industry thrives in a loosely regulated environment, but regulation does play a "key role" in making sure that there is enough revenue for companies to build infrastructure in rural and underserved areas. "It's hard to justify putting [down] fiber when you have a customer every two to three miles, [and] there is definitely a place for policy and regulation to work to bring service to places where it doesn't happen organically through competition," Holland said.
Edward Smith, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's senior legislative director, discussed the FCC's expectations for the incentive auction, saying the commission sees it as being potentially successful. "Success is not going to be a matter of megahertz, it's whether we put together an auction that matches the supply curve with the demand curve," he said. The FCC is not planning for another auction at this point, Smith said: "We are not considering further auctions. We are focused on this [current] auction." He said the FCC doesn't know where the 5G realm is headed, but wants to "make sure" it's setting the rules of the road for spectrum so that innovators can then provide technologies "we can only dream of." On the auction, Smith said the FCC sees its potential for providing as much spectrum as the wireless industry is looking to acquire. "At the end of the day, we are going to see an auction that does yield spectrum at levels that match what the demand is," he said. But Smith also said companies and the wireless industry "shouldn't [solely] rely on the incentive auction as the source of new spectrum."
AT&T Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory Affairs Robert Quinn called for a regulatory environment that recognizes the current trend toward providing vast amounts of data over wireless networks, which he said isn't going to stop anytime soon. Quinn said there needs to be more investment in infrastructure, and that the industry isn't "anywhere near" where it needs to be in terms of infrastructure deployment. "We really do have to look at whether we can make the infrastructure investments" that are needed, Quinn said, adding that the need for more buildout will require a regulatory structure that will make that possible.
Kathleen Grillo, senior vice president-federal regulatory affairs, touted Verizon's efforts to commercialize 5G by 2017 and said the company needs more spectrum for it to make large 5G deployment a reality. "Our current efforts to use existing spectrum [are] only going to take care of two-thirds of the [data] usage we will see," she said. "We are trying to lead the industry [in 5G]. The government is going to have to act quickly to make that [high frequency, 5G-ready] spectrum available."