Clyburn Says She’s Eyeing Wireless Competition

Commissioner Michael Copps said winning his vote for the deal would “take a hell of a lot more” in concessions than the companies have offered, in a speech at the conference. “It would be a more comprehensive list than any merger we have done before,” he said of approval conditions. But Copps may not get a vote. Asked in Q-and-A whether he'll seek another term on the FCC, he did not say that he will. “It was his choice” to go, said Robert McChesney, the founder of event sponsor Free Press, in one of the first times it has been acknowledged publicly that Copps will leave the commission.

The roaming order helps rural companies offer “competitive wireless service” and “promotes consumers’ reasonable expectations in seamless wireless service,” Clyburn said in her speech. Copps said in his that the agency has recently done a good job on wireless and spectrum issues. “We are making some progress in beginning to change the tide,” he said. The commission Republicans voted against requiring carriers to support data roaming.

"We must be vigilant -- super-vigilant -- about the direction the wireless industry is heading,” Clyburn said. “I hear complaints about bill shock, and each one cuts deeper than the last,” she said of consumers’ receiving charges whose size surprises them. “I believe in ’smart’ or ‘balanced’ regulation” and “when the market is working,” as evidenced by competition, the “government can take a step back and allow it to flourish,” Clyburn said. CTIA had no comment on the remarks, a spokeswoman said.

Clyburn used the speech, to a friendly crowd of activists opposed to media consolidation, to discuss some of her own story and use it to show how the FCC’s decisions can be improved. Clyburn said in the unscripted part of her speech that she was “a little bit bottled up” as a member for 11 years of the South Carolina Public Service Commission -- signaling she won’t be as cautious now, “before the guillotine” comes down on her. “I am an unlikely candidate for this job,” as someone who isn’t a lawyer, Clyburn said. Her remarks received wide applause. Copps got a standing ovation when he began speaking, and boos when he wouldn’t say he would seek another term.

Clyburn said it’s no accident that she joined the commission from one of the least-populated and poorest U.S. states. “All of the things you are supposed to be, coming into this space, I am not,” she said: “I have seen the disequities” in society, and audience members shouldn’t “let us get away with doing any less than our best” on “providing openness, providing transparency.” Clyburn asked for support to “affirm how much it’s worth it to fight for equality, for parity in this space.” During Q-and-A, she advised the crowd to “push the FCC to diversify this space,” to “push us to be creative thinkers."

Copps said more needs to be done to get broadcasters to serve the public interest, a frequent refrain for him. “We have our work cut out for us,” and “I wish I had better news to report,” he said in his speech. “If we do our jobs smartly and do it well, we can make a difference yet.” On net neutrality, Copps asked, “What are we going to do about guaranteeing the future of the Internet” so “everybody has access"? He called that “a huge challenge."

Clyburn and Copps criticized the budget impasse that led the federal government to prepare for a shutdown. “We can disagree without being disagreeable,” but that’s not happening in Washington, Clyburn said. “And that’s why I believe we are at the stage at which we are.” The situation is “unbecoming to the country,” Copps said. “I know we have serious budget problems, and they have to be addressed, but we have to find a saner way’.”