The inaccurate broadband coverage maps, robocalls, the TV repack and funding in general, were big topics discussed at a House Subcommittee hearing Wednesday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel testified about the next fiscal year budget request for the agency, before the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee. The panel is a subset of the House Appropriations Committee.
Concerning security of 5G networks, Rosenworcel said the agency should standardize its equipment reauthorization process. Asked what the Commission is doing concerning this issue, Pai said the FCC is working with NTIA on the issue, and he speaks with his counterparts at other agencies and in other countries. America’s allies, “recognize the value in having a risk framework,” for 5G from the beginning, “unlike in 4G” where that happened later, he explained.
The broadband maps consumed much of the discussion. Rosenworcel said, “We need to stop acting like we can do all this in Washington,” meaning get better broadband location data. She suggested crowdsourcing and involving other government agencies like the postal service, to determine where broadband exists and where it doesn’t.
Pai highlighted the effort from telecom trade associations like USTelecom to fix the maps. He also explained the mapping issue was one of the reasons he’s created the new office of Economics at the FCC, “so we can make better decisions at the front end, as opposed to what has been done historically,” at the agency. He also said the Commission is working to fix the Form 477 used to get information from carriers on broadband coverage.
Both Pai and Rosenworcel agreed the TV channel repack is going well so far, and the FCC would come back to Congress if the Commission finds the funding to reimburse broadcasters for changing channels is not enough.
The hearing took an odd twist when the requested $335,660,000 Fiscal Year 2020 budget was discussed. Rosenworcel said the amount is “far less than the $339,000,000 the agency is set to spend in the current fiscal year and is almost $4,000,000 less than the budget level authorized by Congress.”
She continued: “Considering the FCC fully pays for itself from fees this level of funding is too low. If we want to manage spectrum auctions, [and] the scourge of robocalls, we need more employees to carry out those important tasks.”
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) asked Pai several times if he wants more money for the FCC. Pai didn’t answer directly, finally saying the agency could do the work “with the number we submitted.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
April 4, 2019
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