Pandemic Seems Certain to Forge Pai Legacy

The COVID-19 pandemic comes as Ajit Pai enters what is likely to be the homestretch of his time as FCC chairman. Pai has sketched out an ambitious agenda for the rest of 2020, but no one knows how long the pandemic will last. Industry officials agree it will likely slow work on at least some items due to refocusing on coronavirus-related orders. The crisis offers Pai a chance to write a new legacy, they said.

Other FCC chairmen “have found themselves to be very relevant in a crisis,” former Chairman Reed Hundt told us. For Julius Genachowski, it was the Great Recession, Hundt said. For Michael Powell, it was the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Hundt dealt with the aftermath of the first World Trade Center bombing and the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which cut off communications to Los Angeles. “These are all different, and they’re not equal” but offer lessons, Hundt said.

Hundt gives Pai high marks for keeping staff at home while other federal workers were reporting to the office. “He also did the right thing to get all the companies together,” Hundt said. “He’s already been doing good."

“The job of addressing crises directly depends on modern communications ... and in simultaneously making sure that the actual communications network works, and job two is to figure out how the communications sector can help,” Hundt said. “The communications system is more relevant through this crisis than any of the crises ever.” Everyone is ordered to stay at home and depend on the communications system, he said. People can do some of the jobs needed to beef up networks, he said: “You can put up a 5G cell tower -- relatively speaking that’s safe work, because you’re outside, because you’re not in a big group.” Software work can be done at home, he said. This is among the best times ever to make a push on infrastructure, some said.

Former FCC Chairman Mark Fowler praised Pai’s response to the epidemic but said Pai should emphasize broadcasting resiliency during emergencies. Pai issued a release last week commending broadcast efforts during crises. Fowler said no FCC chairman has ever faced a crisis like COVID-19 and its effect on the telecom sphere. Former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth said Pai “is doing a fine job,” but it’s too soon to tell how this will affect the chairman’s legacy.

The FCC has taken some good steps, including waiving consumer fees and requirements and encouraging industry response, said Michael Copps, former interim chairman, now at Common Cause. “The coronavirus emergency cries out for more,” Copps said. “The E-rate program must be used more aggressively to get connectivity to students displaced from their classrooms. Lifeline must be opened to many more people than are currently enrolled.” Copps supports a call from Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel for daily updates on the state of communications networks.

“Bottlenecks, wherever they exist, must be bridged and broken,” Copps said: “The commission must use all its authorities, broadly construed, not just to encourage cooperation with industry, but to mandate it where necessary.” The FCC should also expand USF, he said: “USF has authority to step beyond its four basic program funds, like it is doing with the proposed telehealth pilot program.”

Often leaders are defined by what happens during their terms and how they react during a crisis, Mignon Clyburn, former interim FCC chair, told us. "It's what we remember the most," she said: "A crisis puts us to the test, and we look to our leaders for resolution." She applauded Pai for actions he took in recent days, including waiving the E-rate gift rules and encouraging providers to offer temporary consumer protections to keep them connected. "It's the right thing to do" to demonstrate that we're all in this together, she said. "We're in an unprecedented time."

But Clyburn will also remember the actions that Pai took or neglected to take earlier in his administration. She would have liked strengthening the Lifeline program to make it more widely available to tackle the homework gap for low-income families. Even those families with Lifeline might find it difficult because the program limits service on mobile plans to a single device, and multiple children home from school must share that device. Clyburn hopes the FCC will tee up long-term policies to address the digital divide. "What we learn from a crisis is just as legacy-building as what we do during a crisis," she said.

“This is a stress test for our communications network,” said New Street’s Blair Levin, former FCC chief of staff. “What do we learn from that stress test that helps us respond to the next crisis, but also assure that access to affordable, abundant bandwidth does not constrain economic growth and social progress in a wide variety of circumstances?” Levin asked. “Whether that is Pai's legacy or the next chair’s or someone else's legacy is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether it gets done.”

Hurricane

The pandemic is like the U.S. facing “51 different hurricanes and we don’t know when it’s going to blow out to sea,” said Lawrence Spiwak, Phoenix Center president. “The FCC is doing everything they can. … This is going to be the telecom industry’s finest hour, to pull together to do this.”

“Events like these can shape a chairman's or any public figure’s legacy,” said Fletcher Heald’s Francisco Montero. “Ten years from now, people may not remember net neutrality or TV multiple ownership in the 3rd Circuit [U.S. Court of Appeals], but they will remember Y2K, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and coronavirus, and how the FCC handled those.”

Parts of the FCC, like the Public Safety Bureau, are focusing on COVID-19 response, but other staff will “press ahead with their existing workflows and keep their existing deadlines,” said Tom Struble, R Street Tech policy manager. “You'd expect FCC employees would be particularly adept at telework, but who knows?” Struble thinks work in the 3.1–3.55 GHz proceeding may suffer because of the key role DOD must play: “Interagency spectrum coordination is generally slow and cumbersome at the best of times, so with the COVID pandemic, I don't expect much more progress to be made on that band.” Struble is skeptical on the outlook for a 6 GHz order in April (see 2003190051): “If there's more testing that needs to be done that will be tough to do right now. And if there are conflicting technical studies in the record, [the Office of Engineering and Technology] has only a limited ability to take ex parte meetings and hash out the differences.”

"It's not so much about legacy from my perspective as it is about getting people the help they need," said Irving Group's Larry Irving, former head of NTIA, credited with coining the term "digital divide." He said the number of urban Americans who can't afford broadband is quadruple the number of rural Americans who don't have access, and Pai should put more long-term focus on programs like Lifeline. Irving said Pai is doing what he can to confront COVID-19 challenges in the short term, but more attention should be paid to getting the unserved connected rather than just keeping connected those who already have broadband. "This is a fixable problem," he said, but he noted the FCC would likely need more funding and congressional action. Congress could direct the FCC to modernize the Lifeline program as part of a stimulus package to confront economic challenges from COVID-19.

Public Knowledge Senior Policy Counsel Jenna Leventoff said Pai has shown a sense of urgency on closing the divide since recent COVID-19 outbreaks, "but he needs to do more, and Congress needs to call on Pai to do more." She said people who don't have access to broadband now won't have it in time to weather the current crisis. She wants actions the FCC and Congress take now to "look forward so that if something happens in the future, people will have broadband." The FCC should address broadband deployment, plus affordability and quality of service, she said.

The COVID-19 emergency sets in stone Pai’s legacy as a chairman who dismantled public protections, said Free Press co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez in an interview. Without Pai’s efforts to dismantle Lifeline programs and net neutrality rules, “we wouldn’t have to worry about making sure kids had broadband at home so they can do their homework, we could make sure people in rural areas had great telemedicine," she said. “This is what the public safety net was meant for. We as a country have failed the goal of universal service.” Gonzalez praised Pai’s recent efforts to make sure Americans are connected during the pandemic but said it's too little, too late. The legacy of Donald Trump's presidency will be that the country was “underprepared,” she said. “And Pai is a part of that.”

Longtime broadcast attorney Frank Jazzo, formerly of Fletcher Heald, said the FCC seemed to be working to be “out in front” of the emergency. Jazzo said Pai’s actions to preserve broadband access are vital because some of the only economic activity possible during pandemic-related lockdowns is online.

“The voluntary pledges the chairman has sought and obtained (see 2003130066) are his greatest achievement since he took office,” Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council Senior Adviser David Honig said of Pai: “It’s nothing short of amazing that almost every carrier signed on.”