Telecom industry applauds passage of FCC reform bill

The telecommunications industry is applauding the House for passing a GOP-backed bill that would limit the powers of the Federal Communications Commission. Representatives of several industry groups said the bill would add predictability and transparency to the workings of an agency that has long been derided as mercurial and opaque.

Jot Carpenter, Vice President of Government Affairs for CTIA - The Wireless Association, shares the goal of a "more transparent, predictable regulatory process."

National Cable and Telecommunications Association president Michael Powell said the bill "will promote greater transparency and predictability in Commission decision making."

Free Press Action Fund policy adviser Joel Kelsey said the "so-called FCC reform bill is a misguided effort that puts the emphasis on protecting corporations rather than consumers." Kelsey praised Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) for offering an amendment that he said would "put the focus back where it belongs, on the public." But even with amendments, Kelsey said the bill would remain undesirable. "[T]he underlying legislation would … create irreversible long term harm," Kelsey said, by tying the FCC's hands at a time when it oversees an "increasingly consolidated" industry.