FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Promised New Jobs and 'Better, Cheaper' Internet. His ISP Pals Have a Different Plan

During the push to repeal net neutrality in 2017, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai made a lot of big promises. At the top of the list were assurances that if America would only revert back to “light-touch” regulation of the broadband industry, we’d all see huge boosts in network investment, in new jobs, and in access to a “better, cheaper internet” for all Americans. A year after the repeal, Pai’s claim that net neutrality’s disappearance would spur a broadband investment renaissance and generate new jobs seems dubious at best—likely because capital investment by ISPs doesn’t revolve around the introduction or repeal of any single government policy. Meanwhile, the companies that Pai held up as the job creators of the future, if only they could shed those burdensome regulations, have been busy laying off workers in droves. And now Verizon customers will be shelling out additional fees to access the next generation of wireless technology.