FCC Should Go After Legacy Regulations, Base Rulings on Market Data, Panelists Say

The FCC under Chairman Tom Wheeler should give the public context for its decisions, base rulings on market data and limit the effects of legacy regulations on industry, said panelists at a Phoenix Center event Tuesday. The commission should act as an expert agency, focused on providing information and technical policy, rather than on fuzzier “aspirational goals,” said former FCC National Broadband Plan Director Blair Levin in a panel on the role of the FCC. “It’s not the job of FCC to state aspirations."

Levin and former Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said Wheeler’s draft NPRM on cellphone use on airplanes was an example of how the FCC should behave, focusing on the technical issue and not dictating broader policies. “When the FCC gets in trouble it’s often when it bows to politics,” said Adelstein. Wheeler could have deflected criticism of the ruling if the FCC’s announcement of the draft had focused more on the technical issues, such as the lack of interference to the plane’s systems, Adelstein said.

Though the Wheeler commission is in its early days, Adelstein said he has already seen a renewed focus on action. “Decisions are being made in briefing meetings,” Adelstein said. A commission that takes action rather than deferring decisions is good for the communications industry because it provides more certainty, he said: “Endless” deliberation “undermines the ability of people to invest.”

Ex-Commissioner Robert McDowell and USTelecom President Walter McCormick said the Wheeler commission should focus on reforming “legacy” policies that are hurting the competitiveness of wireline and broadcast companies. “These legacy regulations are not only a drag on investment, but a drag on the FCC’s own focus,” said McCormick, saying they take up FCC staff time that could go to other projects. McDowell said the FCC shouldn’t be treating certain technologies differently than others since convergence is making them “seamless” to consumers.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn also said the agency should continue to examine legacy regulations, and said many of the policies passed during her interim chairmanship were designed to close “outstanding, longstanding” issues that had “languished” at the commission for years. She praised Wheeler for evaluating technology transition trials and said she would look for innovative ways to promote unlicensed spectrum.

The commission could ease the path for many future decisions by providing more context for its decisions ahead of issuing them, Levin said. If the FCC gave the public the context and facts it’s considering as it comes to a decision months before an actual ruling, it would make the eventual decisions more transparent, he said. McDowell said the commission should provide more data as a basis for its decisions. The commission should start doing market studies to determine if more regulation is necessary before issuing a ruling, he said.