FCC Will Increase Focus on Stopping Pirate Radio Broadcasters, O'Rielly Tells MMTC

Pirate radio operators should watch out because the FCC will stop you, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council conference Thursday. Commissioner Brendan Carr also spoke at the conference on a panel with O'Reilly, taking questions from former Chairman Richard Wiley of Wiley Rein.

Wiley said pirate radio issues are important to minority broadcasters in particular. “I see great enforcement action coming,” O’Rielly said. “If there are pirates out there, if you’re seeing this online, we’re coming for you. This commission is committed. The chairman [Ajit Pai] has been outstanding in focusing attention on pirate stations, which are harming all broadcasters in a number of markets.” The number of markets is growing, he said: Pirate radio “is expanding to other markets we’ve never thought about.”

“There’s always more you can do,” O’Rielly told us. “The Enforcement Bureau is doing a good job,” he said, but he has heard reports of 30 stations operating in Brooklyn that haven’t been touched: “We have some more work.”

Carr said diversity is critical in the communications industry. Anyone who goes to tech conferences and thinks diversity is adequate “isn’t walking around with their eyes open,” he said. Carr supports a plan by Pai to move equal employment opportunity enforcement (EEO) from the Media to the Enforcement bureau (see 1807030048). “The idea here is we move the same personnel, house them within Enforcement, and the it essentially gives them a multiplier effect,” he said. “It shows that we do take this seriously.” The event also heard from legislators about the need for more tech diversity (see 1807190057).

In taped comments, Pai said he moved forward on the changes to EEO enforcement based on recommendations by MMTC. “EEO is important; look at the very title,” he said. “There’s nothing more American than that, that every American has a chance to compete and succeed in the marketplace.” The proposed change, which commissioners must approve, also would allow more emphasis on the EEO rules, he said. Pai noted that at this point he's the only member of a minority group serving on the FCC.

Pai said he has high hopes for the broadcaster incubator item teed-up for a vote at the Aug. 2 commissioners’ meeting (see 1807120053). “Historically, broadcast has been a great stepping stone, so to speak, for minorities who wanted to get into the communications marketplace,” he said. Pai was “inspired” by some of the stories he heard of minorities entering broadcasting.

Some maintain that just putting out more spectrum for wireless broadband by itself isn’t a spectrum policy, O’Rielly said. “It actually is.” The FCC needs to make as much spectrum as possible available for licensed use, he said.

On a spectrum panel, Derek Khoplin, senior adviser at NTIA, said the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band offers a “novel” model that will “advance” spectrum sharing. “It’s an innovation success story,” he said. “We think this will result in a diverse ecosystem, both on the spectrum user side, including entities of all sizes … and also, potentially competition in the equipment space.”

Under FCC rules, the band will be shared between priority access licenses (PALs) that are one of the three tiers of the band (see 1802130041), along with general authorized access (GAA) users and federal incumbents who must be protected. O’Rielly told us he has nothing new on his recommendations on the PALs (see 1807160057). “I hope we will be able to take action in the near future,” he said.

There is significant interest in the 3.5 GHz band, said Hank Hultquist, vice president-federal regulatory at AT&T. “That’s why the proceeding has gotten so much activity,” he said. “It’s well situated spectrum in terms of capacity, in its propagation.” The first deployments could still occur in the GAA portion as early as this year, but “I won't swear to that,” he said. The PALs won’t be offered by the FCC for a while and for the first 18 months only GAA access is likely, he said. “Eventually, there will be an auction.”

GAA will be first, said Jenell Trigg of Lerman Senter, which represents wireless ISPs. But if small providers don’t get some small geographic licenses as part of the ultimate 3.5 GHz plan, few are likely to participate, she said. WISPs and some cable operators “are filling in the gaps in rural America where the larger providers are not,” she said. More than 60 percent of Wireless ISP Association members have already invested in 3.5 GHz equipment based on the current rules, she said.

“There are some communities that have no G, much less 5G,” Trigg said. "How do they maintain government connections? How do they get their veteran affairs service? How do they apply for a job? How do they get healthcare?”

Khoplin also highlighted NTIA’s focus on the 3450-3550 GHz band, which the agency is targeting as the next candidate band for wireless broadband (see 1802260047).