Today, I issued the following statement after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to approve a "shot clock" for tower siting applications:

"On behalf of CTIA and the wireless industry, I would like to thank the Commission for moving ahead with this item. The Chairman's leadership and the efforts of the other Commissioners have given us a foundation for our continued deployment of wireless broadband.  

"Tower siting is a vital piece of our industry. It enables mobile services, including voice and broadband, for consumers, public safety, and businesses. Both Congress and the Supreme Court recognized the importance of taking concrete steps to ensure that the zoning process does not become a barrier to the reasonable deployment of, and competition among, diverse wireless networks. 

"In early October at our International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment Show, the Chairman declared his support for CTIA’s request for a tower siting 'shot clock' that would require state and local zoning authorities to act within a reasonable, fixed timeframe on wireless tower siting requests. Fast forward to today's meeting when the Commission provided much-needed certainty to the process by setting a reasonable review period and clarifying that a zoning authority may not deny an application filed by one provider based on the presence of another wireless provider in the area. We sincerely appreciate the Commission and the Chairman for quickly acting to fulfill this promise. 

"CTIA and the wireless industry look forward to continuing to work with the Commission, state and local zoning authorities and others involved in tower siting to provide more Americans with the most advanced wireless services and technology on the planet."

Today, I issued the following statement after the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet's hearing on the "Universal Service Reform Act of 2009." The bill is sponsored by Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Representative Lee Terry (R-NE):

"CTIA welcomes the effort by Chairman Boucher and Congressman Terry to reform the way that universal service funds are collected and distributed. As this bill moves forward, we urge Congress to work toward competitively neutral reforms that target support to where it is truly needed."

Today I testified before the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittees on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and on Communications, Technology and the Internet in a joint hearing called “Driven To Distraction: Technological Devices and Vehicle Safety.”

While you can read my testimony  and the statement, here are some of the key points. We believe there are three components to making safer drivers and safer roads. They are:

• Legislation:  The wireless industry joins Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in supporting a state and local ban on manual texting and emailing while driving. In fact, we are working with the National Conference of State Legislatures, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and other state organizations to craft model legislation that could be adopted across the country that would prohibit this activity. In addition, the industry supports restrictions on provisional or novice drivers from using their wireless devices while driving. 
• Technology:  We support technological advancements, but caution that they cannot be based on inflexible mandates that could stifle innovation. They must also be affordable and consumer-friendly.
• Education:  Last, but most importantly, CTIA and the wireless industry have a longstanding commitment and support to educating all drivers about the dangers of distracted driving. For almost 10 years, the association and many of our members have independently developed educational campaigns. We’ve launched several TV and radio public service announcement (PSA) campaign on safe driving. Most recently, CTIA and the National Safety Council launched our teen-focused “On the Road, Off the Phone” campaign. 

Please tell everyone you know that no one should be texting and emailing while driving. It will lead to safer drivers and safer roads for all of us.

Today, I issued the following statement in response to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller's (D-WV) introduction of “Distracted Driving Prevention Act of 2009” (S. 1938):

"CTIA welcomes introduction of Chairman Rockefeller’s legislation, and we look forward to working with the Chairman and his colleagues to enact a solution to the problem of distracted driving.

“We are particularly pleased that the legislation includes a significant educational component since, as Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood has noted, legislative prohibitions alone are unlikely to solve this problem. We have partnered with the National Safety Council to co-brand a public service announcement (PSA) and Web site (onroadoffphone.org) focused on educating consumers about the dangers and consequences of distracted driving. Having the DOT echo this message can only help as we continue to seek to inform and educate the driving public.” 

I issued the following statement today in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) on net neutrality:

“We are pleased that Chairman Genachowski and the Commission acknowledge that ‘wireless is different,’ and that as part of the NPRM, the Commission will investigate ‘how, when, and to what extent’ the rules should apply to the mobile wireless broadband platform. 

“We agree wireless is different, and believe that whatever the case may be for applying rules to other platforms, applying these rules to mobile wireless broadband services during a period of dynamic innovation and change in the wireless ecosystem could have significant unintended consequences. Consumers benefit when innovation can occur BOTH at the edge and in the network. Rules that could impact the ecosystem from continuing to evolve, such as the ability of wireless carriers, device makers, and applications developers to optimize their devices, applications, and networks to work together will stifle innovation and harm consumers.
 
“Further, the imposition of net neutrality rules will degrade the value of unencumbered licenses purchased in the most recent auctions and threaten the integrity of the auction process. The FCC considered ‘openness’ requirements in the 700 MHz auction and chose to apply those requirements to a single block of spectrum. To extend that requirement, and more, now would raise serious legal issues and threaten the integrity of future auctions.
 
“We appreciate the extended comment period established by the Commission and its commitment to improving its understanding of the complex process of managing networks. Our member companies work every day to provide customers with a positive mobile broadband experience. We look forward to working with the Chairman and the Commission to ensure that Commission policies do not unintentionally harm the mobile wireless ecosystem and wireless consumers.”

This afternoon I issued the following statement in response to the net neutrality paper from Free Press:

"It is troubling that we are debating a filing on investment and job creation from an organization such as Free Press. The industry I represent directly or indirectly employs more than 2.4 million Americans and contributed over $140 billion in direct economic benefit to the U.S. economy over the last three years. An illustration of the gaps in the Free Press filing is that counter to their own conclusions, they based their ‘analysis’ on rhetoric and avoided specific factual evidence of what Net Neutrality would mean to wireless. In the 700 MHz auction, the larger, regulated ‘open access’ license sold for half the smaller non-regulated license. These, and many other shortcomings, are littered throughout the filing. I am confident that the FCC, through its fact-based analysis, will draw the same conclusion."

In response to a letter from 24 CEOs and founders from some of the leading Internet and technology companies to the FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, I issued the following statement:

"This morning, 24 CEOs and founders from some of the leading Internet and technology companies sent a letter to FCC Chairman Genachowski on net neutrality. 
 
"In their letter, they said, 'Entrepreneurs, technologists, and venture capitalists have previously been able to develop new online products and services with the guarantee of neutral, nondiscriminatory access by users, which has fueled an unprecedented era of economic growth and creativity. Existing businesses have been able to leverage the power of the Internet to develop innovative product lines, reach new consumers, and create new ways of doing business.'
 
"I do not believe we could have said it any better than the way that they did when they closed their letter by saying, ’America’s leadership in the technology space has been due, in large part, to the open Internet.’ 
 
"The wireless industry could not agree more. The FCC should preserve the existing wireless Internet that has fostered tremendous innovations, provided broadband for more people, and enabled new businesses. We should all be mindful of the dangers of unintended consequences coming from new rules implemented for the wireless Internet. The fact is that wireless is different than wireline and there's no need to change what these CEOs acknowledged is working well." 

International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2009® has now invaded San Diego for our industry-leading tradeshow! We caught up with our President & CEO, Steve Largent to discuss where wireless is headed in 2009 from a policy perspective as well as his thoughts on the exciting week ahead at International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2009®.