U.S. Could Fall Behind Unless FCC Auction Authority Is Restored: Gomez

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez warned at the CES in Las Vegas that the U.S. could fall behind other nations unless the agency once again has authority to conduct spectrum auctions. The remarks were her first at a CES as an FCC member. Meanwhile, Commissioner Brendan Carr, also at the show, said the FCC is moving backward on spectrum. Carr slammed the administration’s national spectrum strategy for not opening any new spectrum (see 2401100032), which he called “a bit of a miss.” CTA officials said Carr and Gomez toured the CES show floor together Wednesday.

Gomez would “really love to see” Congress restore FCC auction authority, which lapsed in March (see 2303100084). Most observers don’t appreciate “how long it actually takes to get a spectrum auction done -- there’s so much pre-work that has to be done, and we can’t do any of that,” she said.

Gomez noted she skipped her “honeymoon period” as a commissioner, voting on the net neutrality NPRM in October (see 2310190020) and a month later on digital discrimination rules (see 2310190020). She voted yes on both, while Carr dissented.

Gomez said she has been clear on why she supports revising open internet rules. “Broadband connectivity is central to our lives … and it really is important, I believe, to have guardrails … to make sure that all consumers are benefiting from a competitive and innovative product,” she said. Today there's only a “patchwork of state laws” providing protection, Gomez said. Competition can be “the regulator” but not everyone has access to competitive broadband, she added.

Disagreeing with Carr, Gomez said the national spectrum strategy was “very thoughtful.” The strategy does more than just talk about commercial uses and is “very expansive.” Gomez said she’s excited about using AI in better managing spectrum use.

The U.S. delegation to the World Radiocommunication Conference, which she headed before joining the FCC, did a good job advancing positions on licensed, unlicensed and space spectrum, Gomez said. Her WRC work underscored the importance of building relationships before negotiations start, Gomez said.

The amount of time spent traveling around the world, meeting regulators “both like-minded and not like-minded, to try to push forward your positions is extremely important,” Gomez said. That’s true for every member of the delegation, she added.

Just getting up to speed before a WRC takes lots of time for the head of delegation, Gomez said. She noted that Steve Lang, the State Department official who took over the job when she left (see 2309290059), attended international meetings with her and was her “boss” at the department. That’s why the transition was seamless, she said.

The U.S. is stuck “in this sort of broader spectrum malaise where we’re just not moving forward,” Carr said. The U.S. is falling behind the rest of the world “without a real plan to get more spectrum out there,” he said.

Carr cited the recent 24 GHz NPRM, on which he dissented (see 2312260043), and pressure on the FCC to backtrack on Ligado spectrum. In the C band, the Department of Transportation pushed the FCC to “claw back some of the rules” the FCC enacted to enable the band's “full use,” he said.

Some are pushing the FCC to rethink its 2020 order reallocating 6 GHz to Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use, Carr said. “To me that is a complete and absolute nonstarter,” he said: “It takes so much effort and so much time to free spectrum up, years. … It just doesn’t make sense.”

Like Gomez, Carr emphasized the importance of restoring the FCC’s auction authority. U.S. leadership in wireless “is part and parcel of our geopolitical leadership,” he said. When the U.S. frees spectrum for the commercial marketplace, “the entire world takes notice,” he said.

Carr said the story of this year’s CES isn’t so much about new technologies but that technology is starting to come together in a way that will provide “easy to use things that are going to help solve problems in peoples’ everyday lives.” Carr said he was pleased to see advances in technology making communications more accessible.

FDA

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf told CES that technology has brought major changes in healthcare and telemedicine since his first stint as commissioner during the Obama administration. “The changes are so dramatic it’s really hard to sort of easily characterize them,” he said. The medical field has a long way to go, but AI and the use of algorithms will become much more important, he said. On the other hand, people are using the internet to purposely spread misleading health information, he said.

“We’re moving into a different world,” with opportunities for good but “a real chance to harm people,” Califf said. Hundreds of healthcare products already use AI, he said. “It’s the beginning of a tidal wave, or tsunami, and the world is getting set for a really big change,” he said.

A physician, Califf said an era is coming when doctors will be able to include others virtually in complicated surgeries. That’s better than the current practice, he said, noting that his son is an emergency room doctor: “He says when they’re not sure what to do, they just pull up a YouTube video." Telemedicine is critical in much of America where “fundamental bread and butter healthcare is really suffering” and people can’t get an appointment to see a doctor.