FCC Commissioner O’Rielly: A View of the FCC
Last week at the Hudson Institute, former Federal Communications Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth hosted current FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly for a fireside chat to discuss past, current, and future items before the Commission.
Commissioner O’Rielly’s opening remarks focused on his concerns regarding the recent D.C. Circuit Court decision on net neutrality and also concern about the decision making process at the Commission. Commissioner O’Rielly shared his views on the flawed process, one under which arguments against current and past proposals have been selectively ignored, including timely and relevant economic analysis. The lack of economic analysis, O’Rielly stated, must be resolved by the Supreme Court or Congress.
Commissioner O’Rielly also spoke about a current issue under consideration at the FCC—broadband privacy. He does not believe the FCC has sufficient expertise on the issue or is staffed appropriately to address the complex topic. He also doesn’t think that the issue of privacy is actually broken and in need of action by the Commission. O’Rielly made the point that the Open Internet Order opened the door to actions such as these privacy rules, yet an economic analysis has still not been conducted to determine the impact of the proposed rules.
Commissioner O’Rielly’s remarks touched upon a myriad of topics, many of which will continue to evolve at the Commission in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
AT&T’s John Donovan: Investing in Innovation and People
I recently had the opportunity to hear remarks from John Donovan, Chief Strategy Officer and Group President, AT&T Technology and Operations. Donovan spoke at the Progressive Policy Institute’s event, “Investing in Innovation and People: the Future of Broadband.”
Donovan conveyed two distinct stories to his listeners. The first was on AT&T’s commitment to re-educating and building new skills for its 280,000-member workforce. In light of the continuing evolution of new technologies in telecommunications, AT&T has recognized that it needs to provide an opportunity for its employees to learn new skills to prepare for changes in the rapidly changing industry. AT&T is doing this by offering courses, advanced education degrees, and mentoring opportunities to those in the company. All of these programs provide a technology “refresh” for AT&T employees as they seek to meet the demands of an ever changing, evolving, and innovating industry.
Donovan’s remarks continued with a discussion of the ways AT&T responds to regulations that are proposed and enacted by all levels of government. With broadband, Donovan believes there are obstacles to investment because a return on investment can take a decade to be realized after the initial investment is made. It is most important, he noted, that the regulatory environment offers a level playing field to encourage companies to make these investments.
Finally, Donovan touched on wireless and the future of 5G as he expressed excitement about the wireless technologies that hold great promises for consumer benefit. Donovan’s remarks were both dynamic and inspiring and I look forward to future panels on the topic.
Digital Infrastructure 2017 and Beyond: The Economists View
I attended a program hosted by the Georgetown University Center for Business & Public Policy this week, “An Economic Summit: America’s Digital Infrastructure 2017 and Beyond.” The event featured a host of expert economists who considered the policy challenges that will confront the next administration.
The first speaker, Howard Shelanski, U.S. Office of Management and Budget, offered his thoughts on market structure and innovation in the digital space. He spoke about companies that were once considered startups that are now becoming the incumbents in the marketplace. He noted that this is real competition. Shelanski also noted that policymakers should think long and hard about creating new regulatory structures for areas that are not currently regulated in order to create more competition.
A panel of economists followed and offered their thoughts on what the major issues could be for the next administration. Daniel Rubinfeld, University of California, Berkeley, started with his thoughts about big data, as the most important issue to consider. John Mayo, Georgetown University, posited that the three most important issues will be universal service, competition, and re-orienting the functions of the FCC. Gerry Faulhaber, University of Pennsylvania, placed spectrum policy at the top of his list of issues for the next administration. It appears the FCC will once again have a busy agenda in 2017.
It was both very interesting and important to hear the economists’ perspective on the policy issues that they believe will have such a significant impact on the marketplace – and consumers. We definitely need this important input in the regulatory process in order to further innovation in the digital space.
Internet Policy Gone Global
This week, I had the opportunity to hear David Edelman present at a presentation hosted by the Center for Transatlantic Relations titled, “Cybersecurity & Internet Policy: Domestic Debates Gone Global.”
Edelman is the Special Assistant to the President for Economic and Technology Policy at the National Economic Council. Edelman leads policy development and coordination on issues relating to the digital economy, including broadband competition and access, high-tech intellectual property, online privacy, technology trade and internet governance.
In his remarks, Edelman offered five major principles for the internet that he hopes will continue to define the internet on a global scale:
- Open
- Interoperable
- Secure (cybersecurity, privacy)
- Reliable, with a multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance
- Available
Edelman shared, “As it turns out, the principles that were so controversial domestically were ones that had surprising international consensus.”
While much of the specifics of these principles remain hotly debated and there are differences in what each means to specific audiences, I agree with Edelman’s point that these principles will continue to be important both here in the United States and around the world.
“Data-ism:” AEI Program on Big Data
I went to an interesting program this week at the American Enterprise Institute on big data. The speaker was Steve Lohr, New York Times reporter, and the author of the book, “Data-ism: The Revolution Transforming Decision Making, Consumer Behavior, and Almost Everything Else.”
Steve Lohr spoke about how big data technology is ushering in a revolution that will be the basis of the next wave of efficiency and innovation. Big data will have an incredible impact on medical technology, disease control, agriculture, and transportation. In discussing the future, Lohr anticipates that devices will gather information about you – using big data – to help you make decisions (going many steps beyond a device such as the Amazon Alexa). He used examples of how big data is being used for today for hiring employees and money lending purposes. But, he also shared the concerns of some regarding what happens when the data gets it wrong.
Lohr discussed the concern of some that technology may replace workers. But, Lohr made the point that jobs have actually increased thanks to technology. Technology has changed the nature of jobs, but not decreased the number of jobs available. This was an interesting – and I believe accurate — thought regarding how technology impacts our workforce.
This program provided yet another perspective on how big data is changing our daily lives and, in some ways, positively impacting so many important sectors of our economy.
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