Telecom, Technology Converging, but FCC Struggling to Keep Up, Carr Tells FCBA

Telecom and technology are finally converging, but the FCC has been slow to keep up with the change, Commissioner Brendan Carr said Tuesday at FCBA's first “all chapter” virtual event, with members watching from across the U.S.

Cable providers are offering wireless, and wireless carriers are taking on in-home broadband, Carr said. “This has been something that we have been talking about since decades ago … but it’s truly happening now,” he said: “It’s going to accelerate on a scale that’s going to be hard for us to really realize.”

The changing industry is raising new questions for regulators, Carr said. “What is Zoom? How does that fit into the FCC’s regulatory silos?” he asked. “Does it look like an interconnected VoIP provider? Should it have different obligations placed on it?” The FCC needs to be more technology neutral, he said. “We end up with entities that are competing against each other with very lopsided regulatory regimes.” Asked about regulation for over-the-top providers, Carr said, “We need to be very careful.” A lot of regulations on legacy providers were put in place a decade ago in a very different marketplace, he said.

The USF raises other questions, Carr said. The contribution factor once was stable but lately has been spiraling to north of 30%. Including OTT providers probably isn’t the answer to tackling the USF, he said: “At the end of the day,” the USF is at “such a scope and scale that really only Congress can step in at this point.” He noted recent congressional funding for broadband is separate from the USF, and “to an extent that’s the right path, given just the burden already on our USF.”

The FCC needs to remain focused on cutting regulatory red tape to ensure 5G momentum continues, Carr said. There’s room for federal funding, but it has to be “paired” with “reforms, otherwise the money is just going right back into permitting costs and delays,” he said. On spectrum, the challenge is moving forward on auctions, including the 2.5 GHz band, he said. The FCC isn’t deadlocked, despite the current 2-2 split between Republicans and Democrats, he said: “We’ve been getting a lot done. We’ve been compromising.” 5G is a “true alternative” to wired broadband, he said. “You’re getting fiber-like performance.” Broadband gaps remain across the U.S., including in urban areas, he said.

Current innovation is because of “light-handed” regulation, said Curt Stamp, Cox Communications vice president-government affairs. Regulators “can often be slow to act,” he said. “As we see these new technologies coming to the marketplace, we end up with these dilemmas that the regulatory structure is too rigid and not nimble enough.” When regulators try to make new technology fit old regulation, it can harm innovation and investment, he said. State and local governments also need to “not give sweetheart deals to kind of the shiny new entrants,” he said.

State regulators still have a big role to play, said Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley. “We are where the rubber meets the road,” including on eligible telecom carrier designations, he said. “Of course, you’ve got to be nimble, and you’ve got to be able to adjust with the times,” he said. Regulation shouldn’t be “onerous,” but it has to be “properly skeptical and measured.” Everyone says “light-touch” regulation, but that can be hard to define, he said.

Santa Clara University law professor Catherine Sandoval said internet law school works, but students need broadband. “You can’t get on Zoom, let alone stay on, without at least 4G,” she said: For people still on 2G, “what it means is no tele-education for you and no telehealth.”

One of the biggest changes over the past year is that many Americans want to live in smaller towns and move out of major urban areas, said Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner. The presence of broadband is the No. 1 consideration for most, he said: “Even in a pandemic, where hundreds of thousands of Americans have died, healthcare” ranks below broadband.