O'Rielly Trying to Build Hill Support for Auction Rule Fix

Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Monday he was asked by Chairman Ajit Pai to help build support on Capitol Hill for addressing FCC auction authority. “I’ve pushed as hard as I possibly can and will continue,” O’Rielly said, saying he testified on the importance of a fix and discussed it in Hill meetings. Sometimes Congress needs an “incident” to happen before it's willing to move, he told reporters. He also said he's confident the FCC's net neutrality repeal won't be overturned by lawmakers or courts.

The commission says it can’t hold spectrum auctions until Congress approves legislative language that would allow auction deposits to be sent directly to the Treasury (see 1710240065). “It’s not lost on me that we have two USF auctions sitting in the pipeline,” O'Rielly said. “They may take considerable resources.” Spectrum auctions will have to wait even after Congress changes the law, he said. Or the FCC has to figure out how to run two auctions at once, he said.

“In fairness,” a rulemaking looking at revised rules for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band can’t be blamed for delays in the finalization of rules, O’Rielly said. In October, commissioners agreed to seek comment on revising the rules (see 1710240050), after an investigation by O'Rielly.

Even if the FCC had made decisions on such questions as the size and duration of the licensed tier of the band, it lacks spectrum access system administrators and an environmental sensing capability for operators who will manage the band, O’Rielly said. Problems scheduling auctions in general mean the auction of priority access licenses likely will be “quite a while off,” he said.

Net Neutrality

O'Rielly expects the rollback of net neutrality regulation to survive efforts to kill it. He called restoration of Communications Act Title I broadband classification and other actions "sound and defensible." Asked about court deference shown to the previous commission's 2015 Title II order, he said, "We deserve the same amount of deference they got." He suggested the recent FCC order could be sent soon to the Federal Register and published in the next couple of weeks, which the agency says will begin the judicial review timetable. He doubted a Congressional Review Act resolution disapproving the order will pass.

O'Rielly defended the FCC pre-emption of state and local broadband regulation that's inconsistent with the deregulatory federal framework. He said the pre-emption scope is broad and the agency will "fight out" the specifics: "We'll see how far we can push."

The net neutrality debate was "probably the most vicious" he had seen in Washington, O'Rielly said. Asked about personal attacks against Pai and whether net neutrality advocates could have done more to counter them, O'Rielly said, "They were a little late to the game in terms of saying things." He said there was a lot of "misinformation" during the proceeding, and some people seemed "brainwashed." Asking 50 different people what net neutrality would yield 50 different answers, and only one or two would be right, he said.

O'Rielly is eager to see what happens once a 2015 ban on paid prioritization is lifted. He hopes deals will provide innovative solutions in telemedicine, autonomous cars and 5G wireless. He called elimination of the internet conduct standard important, with the end to bans on internet traffic blocking and throttling less so because he believes ISPs have little incentive to engage in such behavior. He doesn't believe there's an overall metric that will prove FCC decisions were correct.

Emergency Alerts

The agency needs to be practical in imposing requirements on wireless emergency alerts based on the draft order circulated for the Jan. 30 meeting (see 1801090050), O'Rielly said. “I want the deadlines to match what actually can happen,” he said. “I don’t believe in deadlines that are made for aspirational purposes and we have those in a lot of different categories.” The FCC should ask “what can actually be done and be achieved,” O’Rielly said.

O’Rielly draws no conclusions on the recent false alarm about a ballistic missile headed for Hawaii (see 1801160054). “We want to get to the bottom of what the heck happened,” O’Rielly said. The FCC shouldn’t consider doing anything until it figures out what went wrong, he said. “This was incredibly troubling,” he said. “I can’t tell you if it’s commonplace yet until we have more information.”

Asked about USF contribution reform, O'Rielly disagreed with state proposals to "tax" broadband internet services. He generally welcomed an FCC draft to pave the way for a Connect America Fund Phase II auction of USF support for fixed broadband services, noting he's reviewing the specifics of the item on the tentative Jan. 30 agenda. He's trying to figure out if a draft rate-of-return USF item on circulation would "match up" with the goal of boosting broadband in needy rural areas.

Asked about media consolidation, O'Rielly said he doesn't have an overarching stance. Some deals may "make complete sense," he said. O'Rielly said he isn't philosophically opposed to behavioral conditions on mergers, but the FCC employed them "far too often" and should be more willing to disagree with a proposed deal than employ "the softer way of saying 'no'” -- i.e., referring it to an administrative law judge. He said he was critical of too-close DOJ and FCC collaboration on transaction review under former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, but he didn't know how the two agencies collaborated now, with Entercom/CBS Radio being approved at staff level (see 1711090067).

O'Rielly said it's "a ripe time" for process change at the FCC and he has "25 to 30" items on his wish list, including making items on circulation public. He's "really excited" about the forthcoming Office of Economics and Analytics. A draft order for its establishment is on the Jan. 30 commissioners' meeting agenda (see 1801120006). He expects to see other process revisions this year, too. Earlier this month, O'Rielly advocated changes in must-vote processes (see 1801090055).