Announcer please welcome tim day, Senior Vice President of the u. S. Chamber of commerce. Good morning. Its great to be here. Its great to see you. First of all, i want to thank christian zer and his team for organizing such an Excellent Program today. I have enjoyed working with christian on a number of important issues to c tek and our member companies. But at c tek, the chambers Technology Engagement center, we are, wind working to establish National Data privacy standard that protects all americans equally and promote policies that enable emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, automated vehicles, and Unmanned Aircraft to thrive. Our goal is to see a workforce that is skilled and prepared for the digital economy. The Common Thread running through all of our work is the issue of data. Without a thriving modern communications network, none of this is possible, and thats why i am happy to be here today to introduce chairman pai. Hes the son of immigrants that rose through Harvard University and the university of chicago law school. Hes worked at the department of justice. Hes worked in the private sector and was first appointed to the fcc by president obama and later was appointed by President Trump to be chairman. Under chairman pais leadership, he has worked diligently to remove regulatory barriers and streamline permitting for Communications Technologies like satellite, 5g and even wire line broadband. Im very appreciative of his leadership to ensure that all americans are connected and benefitted from the digital economy. Please join me in welcoming chairman pai. [ applause ] thank you so much, tim, for that kind introduction, and good morning to all of you. It is great to be at the chamber of commerces Second Annual space policy summit. Speaking of seconds, this is actually my second visit to the chamber this year to discuss the space economy. As some of you might remember back in july, i was here for a roundtable on small satellites where i discussed how the fcc is promoting American Innovation and investment in space. Now, the fact that youve asked me back suggests that my presentation couldnt have been that bad, and that is the good news. The bad news is that many of you have already heard my favorite star trek quotes. Unfortunately, the final star wars movie comes out this month and i think that star wars offers a useful Reference Point for todays discussion. If you think about our culture, it is hard to imagine anything bigger than star wars. Its the most profitable franchise in movie history, generating an estimated 68 billion in revenue since 1977. But consider the global space economy generates about 350 billion of revenue each year. Some analysts project that that number could grow to 3 trillion annually in 30 years. So everybody on twitter might be talking about baby yoda but the space industry is a bigger deal with tremendous potential for future growth and innovation. Why is that . Across the Country Farmers and ranchers are using connected technologies to reduce waste, improve sustainability and increase yields to the benefit of American Consumers like us. Many companies are deploying machine to machine technologies and internet of things based technologies in rural environments to collect and analyze data in real time, improving operational efficiencies. The fcc recently established a Precision Agriculture Task force to explore ways to promote these trends to enhance the productivity and efficiency of our nations farms and ranchers through broadbandbased technologies. This Task Force Includes a representative of the satellite industry because these advances in the Agricultural Sector are being powered in part by tremendous growth and innovation in the space sector. For the longest time, Cost Effective technologies needed to support precision agriculture have been largely restricted to the geographic footprint of cellular networks. Thats changing and changing fast. The fcc recently licensed a Company CalledSwarm Technologies to provide nonstationary mobile Satellite Service by 150 smaller satellites operating in lower earth orbit. This will enable farmers to have censors, supporting new agriculture applications. Weve entered an era in which innovation in the heavens is now changing how our farmers work here on the earth. All across our economy, we will increasingly see Satellite Services integrated with other technologies. Consider 5g, next generation of wireless communications. In the past 4 gt lte happened after the fact. 5g will be accessible to a broader raininge of technologie. Rather than playing catchup, Satellite Services will have 5g from the get go. Many people expect it to unlock advances with automated cars, thanks in part to Satellite Technology and satellites ability to multicast will reduce congestion to space stations through Software Updates that can be distributed to millions of cars simultaneously. At the fcc weve been doing our part to help our nation and this industry seize the opportunities of the new space age. At a 1. 6 million foot view you might say we see an industry that is changing quickly in space and we are trying to make sure that our regulations change with it. Byzantine licensing and Regulatory Approval system could be a bottle neck that hurts consumers and innovators alike and that makes a difference because now a satellite can be built in a matter of months or weeks or even days in some cases and launched by a private provider on demand. Thats why under my leadership the fcc has been committed to matching the tempo of the industry that we regulate. Our space agenda involves cutting red tape and giving green lights. One area where weve been particularly active is the promotion of new and expanded Services Using new nongio stationary satellite orbit constellations. Instead of sending one bird into high orbit, we can send a bunch of them into lower and mid earth orbit. This will create a mesh in space to hold the potential to provide consumer Residential Broadband at a price comparable to competitors. We cannot or will not endorse any one Business Plan but we are giving every company a fair shot at innovating and competing in the american marketplace. That is why weve approved a number of applications for this new generation of low earth orbit satellite constellations. Companies like oneweb and spacex have successfully launched their first groups of low earth orbit satellites and our hope is that if you open up the doors to innovation, Many Companies will figure out a way to make it work technically and economic ily. The fcc has seen an increase in applications for lower orbit satellites proposing earth imaging services. Aspire and planet are two examples of companies now licensed by the commission to compete in the earth observation industry. These rapidly growing space enabled services are revolutionizing the oil industry, agriculture, mirrayor atime and disaster relief. Short duration small satellite systems have a myriad of uses including scientific and research as well as communications and remote sensin sensing. As of the summer the Commission Still required small satellites to jump through the same regulatory hoops as larger, heavier satellites that may stay in low earth orbit for many years. So fix this regulatory mismatch as i previewed during my last visit to the chamber, the fcc adopted a new, separate, streamlining procedure for new satellites. This enables them to choose a small stream alternative. This features among other things an easier application process, a lower application fee and a shorter timeline for review. It also offers potential radio frequency interference protection for Critical Communications links. Now, to this point ive talked about all the ways the commission is making it easier to put new satellites in orbit. But this does raise a legitimate risk of increased orbital debris. In space, as youve probably heard this morning, even a centimeter wide object can have devastating damage. That is why under my leadership the commission is undertaking orbital debris rules. Our aim is to improve and clarify these 2004 rules based on improvements and mitigation practices and also to address recent market developments. 00 i would note that our new application process for small satellites also promotes orbital debris mitigation. To qualify for our process, small sets must be able to burn up completely in the earths atmosphere if something goes wrong and ground operators lose contact. Now, turning to another trend, increasingly American Consumers want and expect to be connected wherever they are which is typically on the move. This is opening new Market Opportunities in connecting vehicles that are on land, on sea and in the air. That is why the fcc has made it easier for satellites to target earth stations in motion, improving the transmissions of data to moving vehicles like ships or airplanes or school buses. I saw a great example of this in person during a trip i did out west last year. I was in moab, utah doing a Video Conference in the southern part of the state of utah. We discussed how kids from remote and Rural Regions can have long, multihour bus rides to and from school or sporting events. During these long trips, many kids as i heard would like to do their homework, surprisingly, take a test over email and use all the other internet connected tools that other kids in the United States have at their disposal. Esimil esims could help a lot of these students improve their lives and thats something that the fcc is looking to encourage. I know ive talked mainly about new and emerging technologies but the fcc is also, windowing to boost the Satellite Service with which many of us are familiar which is gps. Last year the Commission Voted to allow american devices to access the european Global Navigation satellite system known as galileo. Enabling galileo system to work in concert with the u. S. Gps constellation should make gps more precise, reliable and resilient which is a boon to consumers and businesses alike. On top of the commissions efforts, i wanted to highlight recent gains won by the u. S. Delegation at last months world communication conference in egypt. This event comes around every four years so you can think of it as the spectrum olympics as it were. I was honored to be part of the u. S. Delegation and to work with International Leaders from around the world to help create a flexible Regulatory Framework that allows for continued growth of a multitrillion dollar global ict industry. The majority of the conferences agenda focused on satellite issues and here we made meaningful progress. Notably, we secured additional flexibility for e sims to operate additional bands, established a Regulatory Framework to operate in the q and v bands. We allocated one gigahertz of spectrum in the 51 to 52 herts band and made other progress as well. This kind of collaboration will mean new opportunities for u. S. Companies. When i spoke to the chamber in july i closed by talking about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the moon landing and since that seemed to work somewhat well, i thought id close my remarks today by going back to the 60s yet again. When we think of the space race we often think of legendary astronauts, neil armstrong, buzz ail dren and john glenn. What many people forget is that they are part of a larger story. When i became fcc chairman i had the privilege to meet newton minnow who was the chairman of the fcc during the early part of the kennedy administration. To me the most interesting part of our conversation was his description of how the fcc back in 1961 to 63 when he was chair helped to spur the beginning of the u. S. Commercial space industry. Chairman minnow famously believed that putting satellites into space was more important than putting a human being into space. As he put it, communication satellites are more important than sending a man into space because they will launch ideas and ideas will last longer than men and women. Thats sort of the way i see it for the 21st century. Were setting the stage for a new space age. Theres truly no telling what kind of innovation can be realized for the benefit of american and indeed Global Consumers if we put in place the right policies. I look forward to working with you to do that and to help companies here and around the world seize the opportunities presented by this new frontier. Thank you again for your attention and i look forward to an engaging conversation to come. [ applause ] hi, caleb henry from space news. Two questions if i can get away with that. First is about the orbital debris mitigation and prm. Do you have any sense of when there might be movement on that or a ruling . On that one we continue to consult with our federal partners. I dont have a date to provide you at this time but i can tell you that our team at the fcc is actively engaged on the issue. As i mentioned in my remarks, we take this particular issue as an important component of our overall space agenda. We want to make sure the environment in space is safe not just for innovation but safe in terms of the amount of debris that could be resulting from all of these launches. So were very committed to the issue, as are our federal partners. I just wanted to ask about the it seemed like the fcc switched from leaning towards a private auction to announcing just last month a public auction. Can you just explain why that change happened . Ive never made any pronouncement other than the one i made about the way we were going to proceed and i was very consistent that we had four policies four values we wanted to uphold. Number one, freeing up a substantial amount of spectrum for 5g, number two, doing so as quickly as possible, number three, ensuring that the federal government received revenue, and number four, ensuring the continuing of deliverables. I consistently said that all the options were on the table and they were until i made my decision. Were confident in the way that ive proposed to go forward as one that would best capture the synergy of those four values. Chairman, thanks for coming. My name is Frank Spellman from the commercial space flight federation. Ill leave c band alone for the moment. Youre the one. So how do you balance licensing more small sats and the calls for overcrowding and space junk . Thats a great question. On one hand as i mentioned we want to make sure that we have a framework in place that allows any innovative company, any innovative idea to compete in the marketplace. We want every company to have a fair chance to succeed. On the other hand as i mentioned in my response to mr. Henry, we want to make sure the space environment is a safe one especially because of the cost of debris and other harms in space could last much longer than they would here on the earth. One of the things were always trying to strive for is to make sure that we have in place policies that encourage both of those values. I mentioned all the things were doing in terms of encouraging launches but orbital debris is an important priority as working with all the stakeholders that we give everyone a share chance to succeed. Thats a balance thats difficult to strike but thankfully we have a lot of good staff at the fcc, federal partners committed to working with us and in my experience we have private shake holders willing to come to the table in good faith and that allows us to hopefully thread the needle and deliver value for consumers both in the short and the long term. A question as a philosophical thing. In some terrestrial use cases for spectrum contention between, say, navy ships afloat coming into port and a dynamic allocation of spectrum, a dynamic one, and that seems to be a good solution where people can coexist, do you see that dynamic allocation applying to leo and without commitment of course but what might that look like . How would we dynamically allocate spectrum for leo . I would have to think a little more carefully about the implications of migrating that framework to leo, but what i can say is with respect to for example the cbrs band where we did explore that type of sharing arrangement, we feel that that is the best of both worlds using things like the environmental sensing capability and the spectrum as says systems to be able to manage and make sure the incumbents are protected when they need access to that spectrum but also to free a substantial amount of that spectrum where priority access licenses might be appealing or where gaa would be available essentially on a license by rule basis. So id have to think carefully about the implications but i do think that the model that weve established in cbrs has been a very productive one and were always looking forward to Innovative Solutions like that. If theres an application in leo, we would love to see the engineering analysis that might help us move forward. Solved the worlds problems, all right. Anybody else . All right. Well, as one of my favorite political philosophers, George Costanza once said, leave on a high note. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. [ applause ] announcer an