A Build Agenda for America

 It is time to unleash new growth and opportunity.  It is time to build.  And that is what I am here today—to outline my vision for doing just that through the Federal Communications Commission’s Build America Agenda. Our Build America Agenda will focus on delivering on a number of core objectives.  We will unleash high-speed infrastructure builds.  We will restore America’s leadership in wireless.  We will boost the U.S. space economy.  We will advance our national security.  And we will strengthen America’s tower and telecom workforce.  We will deliver on all of this by implementing smart policies while carrying out a massive and comprehensive deregulatory agenda. We will be guided at the agency by a few simple ideas.  For one, we will keep the Gretzky test front and center.  We want to keep our eye on where the proverbial puck is going, not where it has been.  For another, we are going to take a first principles approach.  Just because a regulation has been on the books for thirty years, we are not going to keep it there simply out of a sense of inertia.  For still another, we will focus on competition as it exists today.

1. Unleashing High-Speed Infrastructure Builds: The FCC must do its part to unleash high-speed infrastructure builds in communities all across the country. Permitting reform must be a top priority for the FCC.  I am announcing today that the FCC will be voting later this month to start a rulemaking that will accelerate the transition from aging copper line networks to the modern, high-speed ones that Americans want and deserve.   I will also be asking my FCC colleagues to vote this month on an item that will revise and update the agency’s pole attachment rules. 
2. Restoring America’s Leadership in Wireless: We also need to free up more spectrum. Later this month, I will ask my Commission colleagues to vote on an order that will move us another step closer to auctioning the spectrum licenses in what we refer to as the AWS-3 band.
3. Boosting America’s Space Economy: Next up is space. The final frontier is home to an emerging constellation of satellites that have become an essential tool in America’s national economic and geopolitical strategy.  From high-speed consumer broadband offerings to groundbreaking scientific research to mission-critical services that protect our homeland, our space industry is delivering real results for the country.  America must continue to lead the world when it comes to space.  That means we need U.S. companies to dominate in orbit.
4. Cutting Red Tape and Modernizing FCC Operations: Outdated and unnecessary regulations from Washington can derail efforts to bring communities across the digital divide.  That is why our Build America Agenda includes a comprehensive initiative to eliminate rules and regulations that are unlawful, outdated, or simply no longer necessary.  Clearing away obsolete and unworkable rules frees up providers to focus on delivering quality service and creating jobs.
5. Advancing America’s National Security and Public Safety: As we build, the FCC will ensure that our networks are secure and resilient too. It is more important than ever that the FCC remain vigilant to keep America’s networks secure. Our Build America Agenda will ensure the U.S. extends its lead over China in the race for critical technologies like 5G, 6G, and AI so that American companies continue to be the gold standard around the world. 
6. Strengthening America’s Telecom Workforce: We cannot advance a Build America Agenda without a strong U.S. workforce.  And that brings me right back here to the tower and telecom workers that get the job done day in and day out.  Our Build America Agenda creates new opportunities to expand and strengthen our country’s blue-collar workers.  Providers are now committing to a range of workforce reforms that will result in a more sustainable environment for America’s tower and telecom crews.  Carriers are putting new values on your work—ones that better reflect current marketplace realities—and those changes are starting to take effect.  Providers are changing their approach to 1099 crews, too, helping to ensure that experienced, well-trained crews get the job at fair prices.  And these changes are also making it harder for foreign, fly-by-night crews to sweep in and undercut the safety and security of our networks.