Policy Priorities for a Changing Guard at the FCC

As a second Donald Trump administration formulates its objectives for the next four years, it should use this opportunity to prioritize resetting telecom policy from the ground up. Specifically, the Trump administration should use this time to restore the Federal Communications Commission auction authority, build a spectrum pipeline, streamline government programs, rescind counterproductive rulemakings, and embrace a technology-neutral approach to broadband deployment.

With so much to do, the Trump administration must focus. Priority one should be pushing to restore the FCC’s auctioning authority, which allows it to auction electromagnetic spectrum licenses to commercial providers. Congress mistakenly allowed this power to expire last year amidst partisan gridlock.

Spectrum is the lifeblood of modern communications, powering 5G networks and the consumer benefits they make possible. Very little can be done without it. By restoring its auctioning authority, the FCC will be able to auction licenses to providers for future technologies and the government will have more money to spend on public services like next-gen 911 and the Affordable Connectivity Program, a broadband subsidy program that was also mistakenly allowed to expire.

Prominent lawmakers - like Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have already championed restoring this authority, and with Cruz likely assuming a leadership role in the Senate, there’s renewed hope that action will be taken.

To complement these efforts, the Trump administration must also focus on building a robust spectrum pipeline. Unlike the Joe Biden administration, which preferred studies to policy action, the Trump administration’s past efforts to free up spectrum for commercial use were highly successful. By focusing on spectrum availability, the Trump administration can ensure that commercial providers are ready to meet consumers’ growing demand for data.

Republican control of Congress presents new opportunities for the Trump administration to streamline broadband subsidy programs. For instance, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program program—designed to expand high-speed internet access to all Americans—has rightly come under scrutiny for its inclusion of irrelevant program requirements like climate change mandates and the lack of progress that has been made on deployment. Eliminating requirements that have nothing to do with connecting Americans would help accelerate deployment.

Separately, Senator Cruz has proposed reforming the FCC’s Universal Service Fund program, which has a terrible track record of “waste, fraud and abuse.” Much of this mismanagement and inefficiency stems from a lack of appropriate congressional oversight and accountability. Overhauling the USF’s funding structure so that it is subject to the congressional appropriations process would be a positive step in the right direction.

Outside of policy changes, structural changes may also be coming to the FCC.

Last week, Trump formally announced he had chosen Commissioner Brendan Carr to serve as the Commission’s new Chairman. Carr is an outspoken critic of current FCC policy. With Carr’s selection, one can expect the agency to push to reallocate more spectrum, rescind unpopular rulemakings, and maybe even alter which broadband technologies receive government preference.

One particular rulemaking likely to face the chopping block is the FCC’s recently adopted net neutrality rule which imposes top-down utility-style regulations on the internet. Already the subject of a lawsuit being reviewed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, Commissioner Carr argues the rule could open the door to rate regulation and harm consumers.

Other initiatives, like the FCC’s recent digital discrimination rule and a proposal to ban “bulk-billing” arrangements for Americans living in multi-tenant environments, could also face similar fates considering Carr’s previous misgivings about the FCC wielding too much power over private sector decision-making. Many Americans are harmed by the unintended consequences of government meddling in the broadband market. Rolling back these regulations is a good first step toward correcting these wrongs.

Finally, a second Trump administration should adopt an all-the-above approach to broadband deployment that recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of different technologies, and then prioritize a technology-neutral approach to deployment that does not favor one type of technology over another.

The government has a long history of preferencing government-owned networks at the expense of private networks and favoring certain technologies like fiber over others for broadband deployment. That is a mistake unlikely to continue under a Carr-led FCC. Balance is needed, and Chairman Carr is the man for the job—but the FCC must be careful not to overcorrect and begin favoring other technologies instead.

Whether a second Trump administration will seize the moment to reset telecom policy is unknown, but the time for action is now. The Trump administration should not delay.

Nate Scherer is a Policy Analyst with the American Consumer Institute where he researches and writes about a diverse range of consumer issues. He previously served as a Policy Analyst at the Reason Foundation and has also worked for several other nonprofits including the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Leadership Institute. More recently, he worked an educator for Fairfax County Public Schools and performed research for Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab. This Expert Opinion is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.

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