Speaker 1: Hope we get it back to our special coverage of Milkin.
Speaker 1: And please to say that the chair of the US
Speaker 1: Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, joined us right now. Brendan,
Speaker 1: great to see you here. I know you've been making
Speaker 1: the grounds. You had a panel here. Everyone right now
Speaker 1: wants to know what the SCC's role is right now
Speaker 1: in the broader policies, particularly when it comes to infrastructure
Speaker 1: being rolled out by the White House.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for if.
Speaker 3: President Trump has been very clear he wants to unleash
Speaker 3: America's private sector to build again. If you look back
Speaker 3: the last four years, so many infrastructure projects got bogged
Speaker 3: down in dreams of red tape. We saw it with
Speaker 3: this forty two billion dollar Internet infrastructure plan that went nowhere.
Speaker 2: And so we've directed us to deregulate.
Speaker 3: In fact, we've engaged in the most massive deregulation effort
Speaker 3: at the FEC that we've ever done.
Speaker 2: It's underway right now. We've closed and looking to close
Speaker 2: two thousand.
Speaker 3: Dockets that have been opened. But probably the most important
Speaker 3: thing we can do for the economy right now is spectrum.
Speaker 3: These are the airways that your smartphones use. We made
Speaker 3: a lot of progress. I thought they're in the first
Speaker 3: Trump administration. We fell behind a little bit during Biden.
Speaker 3: We need to do hundreds of megaherts out in the marketplace.
Speaker 3: That's deflationary, is going to drive down prices for consumers,
Speaker 3: is being pro competitive too?
Speaker 1: Those dockets, I mean, what actually accelerated that? What was
Speaker 1: the outcome?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So right now we're targeting all of those, we're
Speaker 3: seeking comment on it. We've already closed over one hundred dockets.
Speaker 3: We're doing a massive.
Speaker 2: Deregulation initiative, and permitting reform is so key.
Speaker 3: You know, we have these rules on the books that
Speaker 3: force broadband providers like AT and T to invest billions
Speaker 3: of dollars in old copper line networks or we're taking
Speaker 3: a fresh look at that so they can move that
Speaker 3: investment over to high speed IP networks. So it's effectively
Speaker 3: moving billions of dollars of capital into new net network.
Speaker 3: So these are some of the economic agendas that we're running.
Speaker 2: At the agency. So what was the timeline and all
Speaker 2: of this it's a lot.
Speaker 4: To get through, But what is the timeline that you
Speaker 4: guys are looking at?
Speaker 2: It is our direction is move on Trump speeds that
Speaker 2: we're moving very quickly. In the first hundred days.
Speaker 3: Already, we've taken action across many.
Speaker 2: Of these fronts.
Speaker 3: Also, national security, we set up a new Council on
Speaker 3: National Security at the FCC. We're making sure that we're
Speaker 3: not vulnerable to threats that come from communist China.
Speaker 2: For instance.
Speaker 3: We're looking at making sure that people can make and
Speaker 3: manufacture things here in the US as well.
Speaker 2: So we're running a economic agenda. Wh're pretty proud of
Speaker 2: it when you're.
Speaker 4: Hearing from members of the telecom community about what they
Speaker 4: can do in terms of manufacturing here in the United States.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot we can do.
Speaker 3: For instance, no piece of electronics can be used in
Speaker 3: the US unless it's tested in a lab. But so
Speaker 3: far as seventy five percent of those testings take place
Speaker 3: inside China.
Speaker 2: So we're looking at steps we can do to resure a.
Speaker 3: Lot of that testing as well, and that'll help.
Speaker 2: Give US manufacturers a boost.
Speaker 1: How long would it take to do that, you know.
Speaker 2: I think it can be pretty short order.
Speaker 3: We already have some of that testing here already, so
Speaker 3: we're taking steps to sort of further do it.
Speaker 2: But these are just you know, parts of.
Speaker 3: The pieces we're running at the FCC, it's a really
Speaker 3: important agenda. Again, We've got to unleash America's private sector.
Speaker 2: They were held back.
Speaker 3: Too long by different red tapes and regulations permiting reform. Again,
Speaker 3: as I mentioned, a lot of state and local regulations
Speaker 3: still slow down internet builds.
Speaker 2: There's a role for the FC to step in there
Speaker 2: and help clear the way.
Speaker 3: But spectrum permitting reform, deregulation, that's the driving agenda at
Speaker 3: the FCC.
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be great for the economy.
Speaker 1: How unified is this approach from the administration. We had
Speaker 1: the Director of the White House Office of Science and
Speaker 1: Technology on a little bit earlier. He obviously talked a
Speaker 1: lot about reclaiming of the US's lead and technology relative
Speaker 1: to the rest of the world, particularly when it comes
Speaker 1: to AI. Is the FCC a.
Speaker 2: Part of that, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3: Look, President Trump was put together just an all star team,
Speaker 3: particularly this second administration. Everybody is fully aligned. They're executing
Speaker 3: the president's agenda. You mentioned AI. I mean that's going
Speaker 3: to be the use case that's going to drive some
Speaker 3: of these telecom networks. That's how we have to get
Speaker 3: more spectrum out or that's all we have to make
Speaker 3: it easier to invest in these new high speed networks.
Speaker 2: When you look at the data.
Speaker 3: Demands of AI, you know, data generally is going up,
Speaker 3: but AI is going to increase through the roof.
Speaker 1: Where do we stand though, on spectrum? Because I've heard
Speaker 1: that before. What's out there? And even though some of
Speaker 1: the spectrum that has been released over the last few
Speaker 1: years there have been some concerns that they might be
Speaker 1: causing in appearance, particularly with some of the recent incidents
Speaker 1: that we've had in aviation. Here can that sort of
Speaker 1: coexists altogether?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, you know, thankfully President Trump is a playbook
Speaker 3: on this. In twenty seventeen, we had fallen far behind China.
Speaker 3: He stepped up and said, look, I want to lead
Speaker 3: in five, I want to.
Speaker 2: Lead in sixty.
Speaker 3: Who cleared hundreds of megahertz of spectrum? We fell behind China.
Speaker 3: The reality is we are falling behind China right now.
Speaker 3: But we have the playbook. President Trump is going to
Speaker 3: step in. We're working right now. Chairman Ted Cruz and
Speaker 3: the Senate is working hard to get spectrum across the
Speaker 3: finish line.
Speaker 2: We can put it in reconciliation and.
Speaker 3: That's going to help pay for a lot of the
Speaker 3: efforts that people want to do in there. It's going
Speaker 3: to be eighty billion dollars or more to be raised
Speaker 3: if we start auctioning this spectrum.
Speaker 2: Off cheer card.
Speaker 4: What does this do for people who really don't have
Speaker 4: access when it comes to telecommunications, are rural areas we
Speaker 4: have so much of this post pandemic. Everyone has talked
Speaker 4: about helping these areos for a long time. How do
Speaker 4: you actually help those Americans?
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a couple things we're doing there.
Speaker 3: When we get more spectrum out that will bring people
Speaker 3: across the digital divide, will give people more competitive options.
Speaker 3: But also think about this new generation of low worth
Speaker 3: orbit satellites, whether it's Starlink, Kyper just started launching, there's
Speaker 3: other providers out there. When we bring that together as
Speaker 3: part of the solution, that's really the long term key
Speaker 3: to bridging the digital.
Speaker 2: Divide in a cost effective way.
Speaker 4: Well, that's interesting that you bring up Elon Musk Starling.
Speaker 4: Does we know his certainly close relationship with the president.
Speaker 4: I mean, how much of the work you are doing
Speaker 4: is kind of focusing on his kind of technology.
Speaker 3: Well, look, I think the space economy in general is
Speaker 3: probably one of our top three issues that we're doing
Speaker 3: at the FCC.
Speaker 2: We need to start moving much more quickly.
Speaker 3: It took years to get the permits necessary for a
Speaker 3: lot of the communications for these satellites.
Speaker 2: We need to be doing that in a matter of
Speaker 2: days and weeks. But it's not just starling. But they
Speaker 2: do it safely.
Speaker 1: Though.
Speaker 4: There is some concern about how many satellites are up
Speaker 4: in space at this point.
Speaker 2: We just did a big deep.
Speaker 4: Dive yere at Bloomberg about concerns about satellites coming down.
Speaker 4: I mean, there is a process here.
Speaker 2: How do you do this safely?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we feel comfortable. There's order debri mitigation rules that
Speaker 3: are in place. We license all the satellites. At the
Speaker 3: end of the day, we feel very comfortable that we
Speaker 3: can still.
Speaker 2: Get thousands of more satellites out there.
Speaker 3: We get in The new trend is direct to people's
Speaker 3: cell phone, and that's something that's just emerging.
Speaker 2: In fact, we've given.
Speaker 3: Providers authority to go higher power from these LEO satellites
Speaker 3: system to get even better direct to sell capabilities. This
Speaker 3: is a really exciting area.
Speaker 1: I want you to talk though, particularly when it comes
Speaker 1: to the satellites in space, because obviously a lot of
Speaker 1: competition between nations for that real estate, if you will.
Speaker 1: In the air. The US obviously had the first mover advantage.
Speaker 1: China has been launching like crazy. India now trying to
Speaker 1: get into the mix, and we're seeing other countries, including
Speaker 1: in Latin America also try to find space up there.
Speaker 1: Does this become a conflict at some point?
Speaker 3: Look, I think this is going to be a very
Speaker 3: important geopolitical issue. Is you know, China is trying to
Speaker 3: launch their own version of whether it's Starlink or Kuiper,
Speaker 3: and when they're able to pair Belton Road with high
Speaker 3: speed internet provided from satellites with their own CCP content
Speaker 3: moderation builters, that's a real threat going forward. And that's
Speaker 3: why it's so imperative that the SEC moved quickly to
Speaker 3: allow US providers again a full range of them to
Speaker 3: launch to compete to provide coverage.
Speaker 2: And so that's what we're going to do with the agency.
Speaker 1: I have to ask you just about mergers and acquisitions,
Speaker 1: consolidation in the industry, and not necessarily just consolidation, but
Speaker 1: the idea of strategic partnerships and other things things that
Speaker 1: in the past, not only under the Biden administration, but
Speaker 1: even under previous administrations on the Republican side have maybe
Speaker 1: found I won't say a roadblock, but maybe let's say
Speaker 1: a roadbump, a speed bump, if you will, and getting
Speaker 1: those things done. What type of assurance is can you
Speaker 1: give the industry that if they do find a need
Speaker 1: and a desire for those types of strategic partnerships and acquisitions,
Speaker 1: that the FCC won't stand in the way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're certainly open for business. We're talking to lots
Speaker 3: of providers. We have a number of deals before us
Speaker 3: right now. One thing that I've said to everybody though,
Speaker 3: is if you have invidious forms of DEI discrimination, that's
Speaker 3: something that I think you need to get the house
Speaker 3: in order before you come to the FCC for and approved.
Speaker 3: That's one of the gating criteria that I've been looking at.
Speaker 3: But we are open for business. We want investment. President
Speaker 3: Trump wants companies building in America, investing in America, and
Speaker 3: we're going to play.
Speaker 4: Our party paramounts to be asked that deal. What can
Speaker 4: we expect.
Speaker 2: We're running our normal course process on that.
Speaker 3: Again, we probably have three or four big multi billion
Speaker 3: dollar deals at the FCC right now, we're working through
Speaker 3: all of them. We cleared one smaller telecom deal earlier
Speaker 3: this year. It usually takes about one hundred and eighty
Speaker 3: days to get through these deals.
Speaker 2: We're about one hundred days into the Trump.
Speaker 4: Mystery sticking point though.
Speaker 3: At this point, at this point, we're just running our
Speaker 3: normal process, whether it's the CBS deal. We have a
Speaker 3: Verizon Frontier transaction before us. We have a team Mobile,
Speaker 3: US Cellular. We're just getting our teams crunching on all
Speaker 3: the deals right now when it's.
Speaker 2: Just normal force.
Speaker 4: All right, tend our timeline.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no time wins anounce here unfortunately.
Speaker 4: All right, listen, we appreciate we know you're a busy man.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: FCC Chair Brenda Cart joining us here at Milkin