Facebook Goal 'Connecting the Unconnected,' Former FCC Chairman Martin Says

Kevin Martin, former FCC chairman and now Facebook vice president-mobile and global access policy, emphasized the company’s desire to connect to the Internet unconnected parts of the world. “That’s an increasing point of focus for Facebook, making sure we’re connecting the unconnected,” Martin said in Aspen, Colorado, on a panel hosted by the Technology Policy Institute. He spoke about how he often travels through other countries in the developing world, naming Brazil, India and Mexico, which have areas where “basic access” is the core challenge. These other countries look to the U.S. and Europe in considering telecom frameworks, he said. “We agree with [many at Google] with the concerns about the importance of having strong net neutrality rules in that debate, of making sure there are some limitations on the operators who own infrastructure,” Martin said. “We at the same time agree with some of the operators in making sure we’re not reflexively applying regulations to new services.” Other panelists at the conference emphasized internationally focused concerns. Verizon Senior President Peter Davidson said there's a need for cross-border data protection language in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and he’s optimistic that will get in there. There's “consensus on the broad principles,” Davidson said.