Commissioner Clyburn Statement on Transparency in the Business Data Services Proceeding

In less than two weeks, the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on an item that will have serious ramifications for the $45 billion market for business data services. An integral piece of this proposed Order is a test to determine which counties will be deemed competitive, and thus deregulated.

Chairman Pai has been a champion of transparency. It is puzzling, then, why he will release the text of the item, but omit a key appendix listing which counties are deemed competitive, until the Order is released. We have the information. It will become public when the Order is released. So why is it that the FCC has taken the position that it will vote on an Order before the public gets to see exactly what the Order does? Just what are we trying to hide? The FCC should release this list immediately. This is the only way the public can truly evaluate the practical effects of the FCC’s proposed actions. If for some reason, that is unknown to me at this time, we cannot release this list expeditiously, we should delay our vote on the proposed Order until the public can see it ‘well in advance’ of a FCC vote.