Address USF Revamp 'Head-On,' Carr Says

With the USF contribution factor at an all-time high (see 2103020032), reform must be addressed “head-on,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr during a Free State Foundation event Tuesday. The contribution factor has been “spiraling,” he said.

A revamp should be done in a way that decreases the burden on the contribution base, Carr said. “It’s going to take some robust discussion at the FCC, and potentially Congress, to get to a long-term solution.” Carr expressed optimism about next-generation low-earth orbit satellite providers playing a role in closing the digital divide, citing their participation in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction. They're "providing better service than in the past," he noted.

There has been an appetite for working together on “some big-ticket items" despite the commission's 2-2 split, Carr said. “Short of being in the majority at the FCC, things are going pretty well,” he said. "From the get-go, I've got to give credit” to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel for almost immediately reaching out after ascending to her new position to discuss how they could work together, he said.

There can be “common-ground rules of the road” on net neutrality, Carr said, and the commission will need to tread carefully to balance privacy and free speech. “We went back to the light-touch approach … and it just made sense,” Carr said, citing AT&T’s recent decision to halt certain free data services as a result of California’s 2018 net neutrality law (see 2103170041). “If we can strip away some of the political messaging associated with this, there is a tremendous amount of common ground with respect to non-rate regulation,” Carr said. “We can absolutely get there” without reestablishing Communications Act Title II rules for broadband, but “the status quo is working well,” and preemption “makes sense.”

“I’m pretty excited about the shift" to open radio access networks, Carr said, because it will lead to “higher-performing software running on relatively less expensive hardware.” ORAN expansion is leading to unbundling, he said, and it’s ultimately going to come down to the private sector (see 2103090063). The FCC's spectrum screen also deserves more scrutiny because it "puts constraints on speed,” he said. Carr again supported establishing a “spectrum calendar” and holding auctions of the 3.5, 2.5 and 6 GHz bands. The 5.9 GHz band is going to be the first test on whether people want to keep their spectrum, he added.

National policies on content moderation are “failing,” Carr said. There are some targeted changes to Communications Decency Act Section 230 that would be “an improvement over the status quo,” he said, because illegal content is staying up while political speech is being taken down. He said there should be more scrutiny of Section 230(c)(2), which sets a "higher bar" for platforms to take down content. The FCC and FTC have a role in holding platforms accountable to their terms of service, he said.