FCC Head Says ‘Free,’ Sprint Boss Says ‘Pay’

　　BARCELONA — Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai did his best here on Monday at the Mobile World Congress to direct scrutiny away from his successful but unbeloved effort to reverse “net neutrality” in the United States, but he lost the struggle when a loyal ally declared that telecommunications companies have the right to charge internet users at different rates for different service speeds.

　　In a keynote session at the conference, Marcelo Claure, CEO of Sprint, said, “I don’t think there is anything wrong with charging more for a faster track for faster traffic … some customers are willing to pay more for faster service.”

　　He added, “Consumers like it that way. Some are willing to spend more than others, and consumers make that decision.”

　　This sentiment, from a supporter of the FCC chief, echoes much of what Pai has long argued about the virtues of market-driven regulation. However, in speaking so bluntly, Claure undressed the assurances by Pai that the internet would remain “free and open.”

　　Pai has said this repeatedly despite last year’s 3–2 vote to reverse the FCC’s 2015 decision — under previous Chairman Tom Wheeler — to treat the internet as a “common carrier” like radio and terrestrial television, under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934.

　　Charging for elite internet services

　　Before Claure’s admission that the four surviving U.S. telecommunications giants — Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon — are entitled to begin charging for elite internet services, Pai made the case for what he called “modern, light-touch, market-based regulation.”

　　“The government’s role is not to command and control,” said Pai, “but to enable.” As he has done often before, he characterized the Wheeler FCC’s Title II “common carrier” designation as an “unnecessary, heavy-handed, utility-style” intrusion into a market better suited to private enterprise enabled by cooperation between regulators and internet service providers (ISPs) like Verizon, Pai’s former employer.

　　Pai, arguing for the reversal of a “net neutrality” policy that is overwhelmingly popular among internet users, insisted that the FCC’s vote “restored the same basic framework that the government applied to the internet for most of its history.” He promised, “We had a free and open internet before 2015, and we will have a free and open internet in the future.”

　　Asked by keynote moderator, Kristie Lu Stout of CNN, why the FCC chose to buck public opinion on this decision, Pai pleaded public ignorance. “I would hope,” he said, “that public opinion, over time, will base more on the facts.”

　　Pai got a slightly backhanded validation for his position from a fellow panelist, GSMA Chairman Suni Bharti Mittal, founder of Bharti Enterprises, an Indian telecom conglomerate. Mittal noted that the internet must conform to “market forces.” If a telecommunications company “misbehaves,” Mittal asserted, “the customer will drop him.”

　　Internet users shouldn’t worry, even if they have to start paying up, suggsted Mittal. “The market is perfectly working. This fear is exaggerated. Markets are safe.”

　　Push back from the EC

　　Among a panel generally sympathetic to Pai’s position, the only significant pushback came from Andrus Ansip of the European Commission, who said in his own presentation that he would “continue to protect and defend net neutrality in Europe.”

　　Ansip added, “The internet cannot be a digital motorway for a lucky few while everyone else is relegated to a digital dirt track.”

　　However, asked by CNN’s Stout whether the EU opposes the current FCC policy, he said that such decisions are best left to the Americans. He added, however, that “fragmentation” — the creation of a hodgepodge of state-based internet regulatory regimes — might be an unintended consequence of Pai’s “light touch.”

　　The EU is already dealing with such splinter movements among member countries.

　　FCC will auction 5G-ready wireless spectrum

　　The lengthy discussion of net neutrality on Monday overwhelmed efforts by Chairman Pai to “filibuster” on other issues facing the FCC with the advent of the 5G cellular communications standard, including a shortage of available broadband spectrum and a U.S. utility infrastructure that is not ready for the demands of 5G.

　　Most critical, noted Pai, is that Congress must vote by May 13 to authorize a crucial series of spectrum auctions — 5G-ready 3.7–4.2 GHz and mmWave spectrum from 24 GHz and up — scheduled to begin in November. If the vote fails, the auctions will be delayed, affecting 5G deployment across the United States.

　　Pai expressed guarded optimism about “bipartisan” support for the approval.

　　However, as CNN’s Stout noted, legal actions over net neutrality have been filed in state and federal courts. While the “reg-lite” faction pushes for fast-track action on Pai’s spectrum and infrastructure agenda in Congress, a wave of litigation threatens to bring the whole program down to dial-up speed.