Speech

For those of you unfamiliar with the merger, 17 months ago, in April 2018, T-Mobile and Sprint announced that they would merge in a deal valued at around $26 billion dollars and sought permission from the Justice Department to do so.

On Nov 22 the Federal Communications Commission will vote to adopt a rule ensuring that our universal service funds—which provide billions annually to support broadband deployment in rural communities—are not used to purchase insecure network equipment. We also will kick off a rulemaking to identify where this equipment is in networks today and how to help carriers serving rural America replace it. I think with a few changes we can better protect the integrity of our networks and offer more certainty and predictability for carriers.

After 20 years of seeing these prime airwaves [in the 5.9 GHz band] go largely unused, the time has come for the FCC to take a fresh look at the 5.9 GHz band. And I’m pleased to announce that today, I shared with my FCC colleagues a proposal to end the uncertainty around the 5.9 GHz band and set a path for the deployment of new services. Specifically, I’m proposing to make available the lower 45 MHz of the band for unlicensed uses like Wi-Fi and allocate the upper 20 MHz for a new automotive communications technology, Cellular Vehicle to Everything, or C-V2X.

The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, warned us against this status quo bias. The secret to his legendary success on the ice was to “skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” The Gretzky Test is popular in sports and in business now, and I think competition authorities—and especially those of us in tech and telecom regulation—should hold ourselves to it, too. The Federal Communications Commission has not always met that test. For too long, too many at the FCC sought to preserve the status quo, thinking that doing so could only benefit the Americans we serve. The FCC was wrong.

It’s fair to say that a Council on Foreign Relations appearance by the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is out of the ordinary. But these are extraordinary times. We’re at a pivotal moment in the evolution of communications technology. Across America and around the world, private companies have begun rolling out the next generation of wireless technology—commonly known as 5G. For all the opportunities that 5G will unlock, it will also create new challenges. Chief among these is the main subject of my remarks: network security.

Thank you to the Broadband Communities team for organizing a great event and inviting me here today to discuss an issue that I care so deeply about which is getting high-speed, affordable broadband to every person across this country.

In the C-Band, the satellite licensees are willing to relinquish a good portion of the 500 megahertz between 3.7 to 4.2 GHz, while accommodating their customers receiving video and audio content in the remaining satellite spectrum. The Federal Communications Commission is close to completing its review of the C-Band, and an item should be voted in the next month or two to repurpose part of the band.

As part of our 5G FAST plan, we are pursuing additional opportunities to free up mid-band spectrum for next-generation wireless networks. Following the 3.5 GHz band auction, the FCC plans to hold an auction in the 2.5 GHz band. With almost 200 megahertz, this is the largest contiguous band of terrestrial, flexible use spectrum below 3 GHz in the United States. But it’s dramatically underused today—existing licenses cover only about one-half of the country, and the spectrum often vacant west of the Mississippi River.

I’m going to say a word or concept—something about wireless—and I’m going to ask you to raise your hands—is it overrated or underrated? And in return, I’ll share my two cents about it, too.

5G -- underrated     Mid-band spectrum -- underrated   World Radiocommunication Conference -- overrated    Network Virtualization -- Very underrated    Unlicensed Spectrum -- underrated 

2019 has been the Year of 5G. And most Americans know something about 5G by now. But we need to do a better job of explaining 5G in plain terms. It’s important that we meet this communications challenge. We have to shift our audience from those who are immersed in tech and telecom to ordinary people who aren’t interested in the latest 3GPP release but who are very interested in how new tools can make their jobs more rewarding, their kids’ schools more enriching, and their families closer.