”There’s never been [an FCC] chairman who has...

"There’s never been [an FCC] chairman who has understood more personally the importance of ... an open Internet,” said Chairman Tom Wheeler at a panel in Albuquerque Monday night. “I'm pro open Internet, pro innovation, pro protecting the speech the Internet enables,” he said during a live-streamed (http://bit.ly/TMsD4y) panel sponsored by the Digital Justice Coalition of New Mexico and Media Literacy Project. Wheeler said he learned the importance of access to a network when as an entrepreneur he met resistance from cable companies to granting access to an early form of pay-per-view he was pushing. An open Internet has to be accomplished without discouraging innovation, he said. State laws that pose obstacles for municipalities to create or partner with companies to build their own networks are “wrong,” because they deter competition, he said. Wheeler has been moving toward pre-empting such laws (CD June 16 p15) . Wheeler also said he’s moving through a draft E-rate overhaul order to be taken up by the commission July 11 that he says will improve broadband connections for schools and libraries in rural areas (CD June 26 p5). (See separate report above in this issue.)