Transcripts For CSPAN The Communicators 20141025

It is delightful to be back, especially now that i am representing this amazing industry, the platform where everything is bearing off of. Who is ctia . We are the people who build the networks. We are the manufacturers, and we are the App Committee as well as the new silicon valley. We are the connected life. That is what ctia represents and that is what we hope to educate washington about. Im just could not be anymore thrilled to be with them. Host what is the Biggest Issue facing your industry when it comes to washington and regulation . Going our top priority is to be spectrum. Spectrum is what the Wireless Industry needs. It has been six years since we had inspection often a spectrum auction. We have two coming up in the next couple years. The aws 3. Then we have the incentive auction next summer. Were talking about the networks are phones are running on, that spectrum was coming uction thats 1 a happened last time. So spectrum is always going to be our top issue. We are excited about these two so we will be working on spectrum, spectrum, spectrum for a while. Host are you satisfied with the progress on the incentive auction . Guest i am happy with the progress on aws 3. I was at the Commerce Department during aws 1. This is repurpose a spectrum from the department of defense. The lessons have been learned. It is going wonderfully. Paired,3 spectrum is internationally harmonize, 65 megahertz. We are so excited about aws 3. Were going to turn around and have the broadcast incentive auction. That discussion is going well, too. Which values the spectrum, those numbers have turned the discussion from a policy discussion to a business decision, which is where that discussion needed to turn to. About thosecited auctions. Im certain our carriers are going to come to them with big its going to be a winwin situation for ever went. Host how long does it take from an auction to get spectrum online . Guest quite a while, which is what we are focused on the next band. These, the budget discussions. I think we had budget discussions in 2016, we need to have a clear idea of what we want for next. We are the world leader in 4g lte networks. We are the world leader in mobile right now. We need to remain a leader for fiv5g as well. Spectrum is key. Host joining our discussion is amy schotz, Senior Editor for tech policy at recode. Guest it is a news website. At recode. Net. We cover all things tech. Host this was formed by the former tech columnist for the wall street journal. Guest we used to be called all things d. We spun out of the wall street journal in january. We are happy to be there. So, lets talk about the spectrum auction. Ill report, which i know broadcasters were looking at with interest because it finally shows the numbers which they have been asking for for months. But that report also suggested that broadcasters would have, they would give 120 megahertz. There would be 100 megahertz for your members to buy. Do you, a lot of folks thought that was a stretch. What do you think . Where do you think these kinds of things stand . Guest there are 2100 broadcasters. So each one has to make their own decision. I can tell you that our carriers are excited about the spectrum. Band spectrum. Whatever they want to put out there, we will be there with check looks. Guest are there other things the agency needs to do to encourage broadcasters to come to the table and sell spectrum . Guest the agency is doing a great job in balancing. We have a couple go of technical issues that need to be a result. They want to know what kind of interference that will happen the spectrum they buy. The fcc is doing a great job. Im certain this will be a great success. Guest is there anything else your organization is trying to do to have the urge to encourage broadcasters to come to the table . Is the fcc going to go on a roadshow soon to talk to broadcasters . Guest we want to make sure that broadcasters have the information they need. Youre interested in this auction. Host meredtih atwell baker, should there be set aside for smaller organizations . Guest our job is to get the spectrum out there. We do not take a position on how to do that. The fcc should do that. Guest the other big issue, even though spectrum, spectrum, spectrum the other issue is Net Neutrality. And it feels like from everything that is coming out of the agency and coming out of the hill the fcc is going to reverse course and actually applied Net Neutrality rules to Wireless Networks. Where in 2010, they did not do that, they gave you an exception, saying networks are different. Now they are starting to look the other way. What do you think the state of play is on that . , i want to start with the fact that we all believe in an open internet and we all believe we need to have rules. We believe we have to have theific rules that take differences of wireless into account. And there are really three differences that the rules need to account for. The first is technical, that wireless depends on spectrum which is a scarce resource that comes from the government and that we sahrhare it. If the three of us were on a phone call, i was on the phone call you were doing email, and peter was looking at the scores guest he is on facebook. Guest he was checking the video clips from last night. We would all be on the same cell. This is a shared resource. N had school kids that were touring cspan, they would be on our same cell. So we have to prioritize and manage our networks so that all of us can have the best use of the network. The second occurrence between wireless and Everything Else is how competitive we are. Of you know that eight out 10 americans can choose from one of four Service Providers . Providing 100 Different Service plans. So it is a very competitive environment. Were relalally new. We are just unleashing these lte platforms and still rolling out teings like lte voice, l broadcast, and accreditation. We want to make sure we can experiment and differentiate our services to customers because wireless is not only different, it is not at all the same. Guest the same thing was true for years ago when they now the same thing. They are looking at it a lot differently now. Is the fact they applied Net Neutrality is Wireless Networks . What condition should they put in there to ensure that the school kids coming into cc bank and get on their phones and get on facebook . Guest we need to take into the differences. When we looked at in 2010, they said we had intended for wireless to be under the open internet rules. We are not sure how to do it. Since 2010, our mobile speed have grown 8 times. Data has increased by 730 . Openill believe in the internet. And we will always believe in an open internet. We just need to make sure we do not inhibit this incredible platform for the future. You know, gm wrote a letter. And i think it says something when i say this, but i say it all the time. Net neutrality important title ii bad. Need mobilesays, we specific rules and we need to make sure we do not apply wired network rules to wireless, i think that when were looking at the next generation of connecting cars, and they are concerned, we should take note of that because we do not want to inhibit the next generation of connected cars or mobile health or mobile payments. All of these things are here. Pay yesterday at whole folds. They are only going to grow. We want to make sure we are the world leader in these networks. Host Meredith Atwell baker, let slip that away. If you were still with comcast, would you be are yo arguing that the wired characters were carriers would have the same rules or less rules . Guest wireless specific rules are important for the future of the wireless platform. Host you said there were three differences. I heard two. Technical, competitive, what was the third . Guest the fact we are so no. The inventor of the cell phone, a fantastic man. He said we are at the model t version of this. Were just starting to see the benefits of the lte platform and what mobile is going to bring to our lives, whether the education of her children or the health of our parents. Is going to provide not only now in the next two or five years is going to make a difference for our entire economy. We want to make sure we have the proper environment. You know, we are leading. Im not sure why you would change the rules when we are l eading. I think it is almost reckless. The court has given the fcc a clear path under 706 to have rules that will be legally upheld, that gives us the certainty and security that we can innovate. They are mobile specific. And i think the fcc should continue on that path with 706 rules. Host and Meredith Atwell baker mentioned marty cooper. The inventor of the cell phone. If you would like to watch the interview with him, you can go to cspan. Org the communicators. Next question. Guest i do not want to beat a dead horse on this, but still on wireless Net Neutrality. That i promise we will switch to something else. It does not look like obviously, you are suggesting they should go under 706. There is a whole other contingent saying that they should apply title ii. Another group is saying, there should be a hybrid model. If they go forward with title ii, what you think they should forbear from, or what parts of title ii might be appropriate versus what parts of title ii has your members screaming in horror . Guest none. It is unnecessary and complex. On dues 10 years of legal precedent and fcc precedents of bipartisan decisions. There is no part of title ii that should work here. The court has given the fcc a roadmap and they should follow it so that we can all move on from this conversation and Start Talking about dr. About spectrum. Host she promised but i did not. Back to title ii. If the fcc does move forward with that, would there be a lawsuit . Guest yes. Guest would you file it . Guest there is going to be a lawsuit. We have a Sustainable Way forward under section 706. We are all comfortable with that path. I think that thats the way the fcc should go, and we should not throw more uncertainty into this debate. Guest equally fun but totally different topic. Tr daily is reporting that the Consumer Bureau is looking at the below the line charges that wireless carrier stick on peoples phone bills and that there is something that needs to be done about that because they are junk fees. Consumers do not know what the heck they are and b, not sure why they should be paying them. Is there more the industry could be doing to prevent those fees . What could your members do . Guest what they are talking about is thirdparty bad actors who are committing fraud on our consumers. We absolutely need to be more cognizant and more looking at our bills more clearly and are educating our consumers to do so as well. We will continue to work with the government on these issues, but there is a fantastic lap that isthis texting being used for charitable and political donations. It is easy, and it has reaped amazing benefits. If you look at the red cross. For haiti, it brought in 32 million. That is fantastic. I think we need to be cognizant of fraud, but i also think we ought to maintain this platform for good. Guest they brought in hundreds of millions of dollars for poor scopes and celebrity gossip. I love celebrity gossip but im not going to spend 10 a month. It seems like the fcc has taken a huge move on this, and they have had Enforcement Actions against several carriers. Involved onetting the privacy side. Another big issue is the inapp purchase aspect, where people are able to buy things through play store or itunes. Is there more the industry can do . Are there selfregulation she might be looking at . Guest we are always looking at are always looking at our billing to make sure it is easy for consumers. I think there are certain education as we have more and more things going on to our cell phone and it becomes even more integral to our lives than it is now. We all need to be really careful both of our identity and our as well as our bills. We will continue to work in education for consumers and work with the government when there are bad actors. Host commissioner, a little bit out of your bailiwick but i would like to get your viewpoint. The wirelessffect industry, cbs has created an app you can subscribe to directly. Hbo, some of the hollywood theaters or studios as well. It looks like there could be a cableg trend to break up television as it now looks like. Thedoes that affect Wireless Industry . Guest we love video. Video has increased 730 times since 2010. It is exciting that they are saying this is a future platform for their content. So we are excited about it. What does it mean . We will have to more carefully manage our networks, and that means guess what . We need more spectrum. Host it comes back to spectrum. What about cramming . Has the industry taken a Strong Enough stand against cramming . Guest that was the discussion we were having about texting, a platform fors good. We have had thirdparty bad actors on this. We will continue to work with the government. Host would you support legislation . Guest it depends on what the legislation says, but we do not want we want to protect our consumers as much as the Consumers Want to be protected. Guest speaking of congress, what do you think is going to happen and how does the landscape change for the industry if republicans take control of the senate in november . Guest the fantastic thing about the mobile industry is that everyone supports it. Its bicameral, bipartisan issues that we have to make sure that our consumers have what they need for the future. Most people love their phones and they love to be able to check on them when they are stuck in hearings that go on forever. Im not sure they love a lot of the things the Wireless Industry guys, whether it is junk fees, or data caps. You can love the product without loving guest think about some of the bipartisan things we have been working on. Infrastructure. We all believe we have to have more infrastructure build out so we can have better Wireless Services to connect our lives. We believe federal incentives are something we have to work with the congress so that we can figure out how to incentivize the federal Government Agencies theire a look at efficiencies and how they use their spectrum to repurpose it for mobile broadband to all of our better use. We look at the technologies the federal government is using and we think maybe we shoudld talk about how they can use lte in the platform to improve their services as well as more have more modern technologies. Host commissioner, how are people using their cell phones . What have you found . Guest well, it is really incredible. It is connected learning. If you look at the case, it is all they use. The hispanicough chamber of commerce just wrote a letter and they said nine out of 10 hispanics use are completely dependent on their mobile phone. They went on to say that they did not want the fcc to change the rules i have regarding Net Neutrality because in fact, the hispanic community, both business and consumers, have grown so dependent on the mobile platform. So its enhancing our lives in incation, i n health, mobile payments. I have been lucky enough to travel since i took this job. I was down in atlanta at at ts connected car studio. It is incredible what they are doing with the connected car. It was so exciting that i said, we need to bring that to d. C. Next week we have got a connected car event at the fcc, so everyone can see what this technology is going to do to our cars not only today but tomorrow and it is going to make us more connected but more important, it is going to make us more safe. It is exciting. Host what about the distracted driving issue . It is something we are concerned about. It is something i feel very strongly about, that one cannot text and drive. We educate everyplace we can at ctia. It is a really serious problem. What we need to do is educate, we need to have laws that dont allow it, and we need to enforce it and teach it. And we need to integrate that into the car so it makes it safer and not distracted. Host we have been living in a 4g world for the last couple years. What are we going to be living in a 5g world . Guest it is a great question. I would say we started rolling in 2010. G networks we still are. There are still a lot of room on that platform for a lot more exciting things that are coming to make her life more connected. But youre right. We to start thinking about 5g. The rest of the world is. It is no longer wireless issue. It is an economic issue. So you see countries like korea and japan talking about 5g. The commissioner has been really on the forefront of this. I commend her for that. I think we will start to see 5g from these auctions that are happening in beginning aws in 22 days. My guess is that spectrum is purpose for 5g, and we will start to see the rollout in 2020. Host is important that there are four Major National wireless carriers . Do you have a problem with sprint and tmobile or whoever merging . Guest so, there are four major wireless carriers that everyone refers to. There are tons of carriers still. Competitivemost industry ive seen. Read my ceos tweets. These guys are competing for the benefit of consumers. Host would you have a problem with sprint and tmobile merging . Take positionst on mergers. I am excited it is such a competitive industry. Guest so the carriers have had in some ways, been resisting the commissions e911 location accuracy proceeding, which i wonder if you can address why. If im on my iphone and im in this building, i feel like it would be a good thing if ems knew where i was if i was having a heart attack. Why are kerrys resisting this . Guest carriers resisting this . Guest we all want to bring our carriers the best generationof of 011. We want to bring the players to the table to figure out what everyone needs, what to Public Safety officials need so that we can best deliver that to them. We want to have a Realistic Technology tested technologytested solution. With that solution, we want to have a timetable that rolls out. But we all want to make sure there are customers our customers are safer. We are excited about the benefits of nextgeneration 911. We want to make sure we come up with a realistic solution. The timetable or the technology that is tripping everybody up . Guest both. When we have run the tests on what the solution, the solution set we thought were going to work, they do not work yet. So its both. Guest is that something that carriers could take more of a lead on . Guest we are all at this table. We all think it is critically important that ems can find you, not only in this building, but at this table. Host commissioner, the fbi director recently spoke up and said he wishes that he inks it is important that apple and verizon and others have locators in their phones so that they can track them if necessary. Whats the industrys position . Balanceo, privacy is a that we have to have. We want to make sure that we protect our consumers privacy as well as work with Law Enforcement. A lot of these rules, we are working with Law Enforcement and we want to continue to work with them. Encryption is important for our consumers protection of their privacy and their data. So it is a balance. It is always a balance with privacy and Law Enforcement. All lot of the you are referring to, they are from 1984 and 1996, much like the communications act. Because the industry has changed so much, its a good idea to revisit these laws and see if they might need to be updated. Host what you hearing from consumers who say, no. I do not want it is not important that you know where i am at all times. Guest as i said, it is a critical i think consumers and privacy, its important that it be opted in, and important that consumers Pay Attention to see whether they want to be located or not. Benefitslly love the that location, accuracy, and all of the apps are providing. I do not know that i could find a restaurant now without some of those apps. Certainly, i am i love everything that that is bringing to me on my phone. But i also am conscious of the fact that i am giving up my privacy to be able to reap the benefit of that. Andong as it is an optin consumers are educated to know what is happening with their location, then they get to make their own choices. Host pcs living i do you appsworldng in an for a while . Guest i wish i am had the vision to know. If you said in 2010, all right going to live in an apps world, i would never thought we would have thousands of them. So i hope so. Guest so, how long have you been at ctia, less than a year . Guest four months. Guest time is going fast. How is this different than working over at nbc . Guest entirely different. Nbc was a fantastic job. I will be so grateful and i would never left that job but for ctia. I started my washington career at ctia. It is coming. For me. I would say that most of my career has led me in dealing with spectrum whether it was for the federal government or being in broadcasting or running crucial part of spectrum that fcc. Being at ctia in having our priorities being spectrum, spectrum, spectrum is sort of like the perfect job for me. And really just am so grateful to be here and so excited. Guest when youre in college were like, yes, i want to be in charge of spectrum. How did you fall into this . Or maybe this was her plan. I dont know. Guest i was tell the collegeage kids that people, they either go into their career and it is a Straight Line and they know where they want to go, or maybe it is like me. I wanted to go to the state department because i wanted to have an international job. I landed in Congressional Affairs which led me to have an interest in washington. And one job has led me to another to become an expert in special. My job, i landed into it and it guided me into it. Has Meredith Atwell baker a bachelor of arts degree from washington and Lee University and a law degree from the university of houston. You are not a techie. Guest i can give you the chewing tobacco version of technology. Host california passed the kill switch law. Do you see it Going National . Guest we work hard with california. I am proud of the industry on stolen phones and how we stepped out. We have an incredible education to protectoth how her phone as well as what to do when it is stolen. We have worked on the database as well as most importantly we have voluntarily agreed to have a toolkit for stolen phones as part of your phone with no charge to the consumer. So i think, again, it is part of the importance of a phone in summers life that we need to work with this. And it is an important issue and a priority for us. Law turnedhe way the out, but ive got to say it does not lend itself in manufacturing phones to 50 states having 50 different laws. So i think that we as an industry need to step up as we have to solve this problem for consumers. Are static and this is betterative, always solution tomorrow kind of problem. So we will continue to have it as a priority, and hopefully will not see 50 different state laws. Host thank you. Cspan, created by americas Cable Companies 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Campaignf cspans 2014 coverage. Follow us on twitter and like us on facebook to get debate schedules, video clips of key moments, debate previews from our politics team. Cspan is bringing you over 100 senate, house, and governor debate. You can instantly share your reactions to what the candidates are saying. The battle for control of congress. Stay in touch and engaged by following us on twitter at cspan and liking us on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. On wednesday, the Heritage Foundation held a discussion on the constitution and the rule of law. Judget court of appeals Janice Rogers brown is the latest speaker and the organization possibly a lecture series honoring former Supreme Court Justice Joseph story and judicial restraint. Judge rogers brown was nominated Circuit Court by george w. Bush in 2003 and confirmed by the senate thank you. Youre a lovely audience. I probably should sit down now. I want to thank the Heritage Foundation for asking me to deliver the joseph story distinguished lecture. I am intimidated to be in such company. I have attended many of the other lectures. I especially want to express my gratitude to and meese, for as many kindnesses, and being such a minch. Conversations would like this would not be taking place, we