10/2/18

By B.N. Frank

An article by The Register, “Eat my shorts, watchdog tells every city mayor in the US – FCC approves $2bn 5G telco windfall,” says it all. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has sold out to “Big Wireless” in a way that is even more embarrassingly obvious than even pro-Telecom elected officials ever expected:

If you were to pick a moment in which America’s telecoms regulator disappeared down the rabbit hole at its monthly meeting, it would probably be when the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Ajit Pai provided a full “up is down” statement.

“I salute Commissioner Carr for his leadership in developing this order,” Pai said today of his fellow commissioner Brendan Carr while discussing a plan to set a federal limit on what local and state governments are allowed to charge telecoms companies to add new 5G mobile cell sites on their property.

“He worked very closely with many state and local officials to understand their needs and to study the policies that have worked at the state and local level. It should therefore come as no surprise that this order has won significant support from mayor, local officials and state legislatures.”

There’s only one problem with this statement: it is wholly, provable [sic] incorrect.

In fact, the FCC just closed a short public comment period in which a very large number of mayors, city officials, and state legislatures explicitly stated the opposite: that they were entirely opposed to the plan.

SNIP