Companies Need, Above All Else, More Certainty from the Government, Shapiro Says
One of the main things consumer electronics and other high-tech companies need from the government is certainty, CEA President Gary Shapiro said on an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators, set for telecast Saturday. Shapiro cited as a prime example AT&T’s failed attempt in 2012 to buy T-Mobile. “Despite having the best legal advice in the world,” AT&T ended up having to pay T-Mobile $4 billion in breakup fees and other compensation after the deal collapsed, he said. “There are ambiguous laws out there,” he said. “We should not have ambiguous laws of any type. We should have legal certainty.” The FCC’s reliance on a public interest standard in weighing mergers “is not healthy,” he said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
"This goes way beyond the FCC,” Shapiro said. “It goes into how we live our lives as Americans. I think you have a right to know what law you're violating.” Shapiro also cited the “2,000-page” Obamacare law as well as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. “It’s out of control and it’s hurting business,” he said. “Businesses don’t know what is legal and what is not.”
Shapiro said he’s impressed with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler so far. Wheeler was an association president in the past, at CTIA and NCTA. He’s expected to make one of his first major appearances as chairman next week at CES in Las Vegas, where Shapiro will interview him. “I like the fact that he is bringing gravitas, maturity, and business experience” to the office, Shapiro said. “He has headed an association, which is a great background to do almost anything.” Shapiro said he likes that Wheeler is 67 -- “he’s not looking for his next job,” Shapiro said. “Every other FCC chairman has been relatively young.” Shapiro said all five FCC commissioners are expected to attend CES.
Shapiro did not answer directly questions on whether Congress should rewrite the Telecommunications Act of 1996. But he said Congress should ask a number of questions about current laws. “Why is it that broadcasters get free spectrum in a huge swath with fewer than 10 percent of population” watching over-the-air TV, he asked. “Why is it that broadcasters have a law that says a cable company must carry their signal … and can require the cable company to pay them if they don’t want it? … Why do we have laws that favor one medium over another?”
Shapiro predicted getting more spectrum online for broadband will be one of the top topics at CES. Spectrum is “like a ticking time bomb, we know it’s a problem, we have to do something about it,” he said. “The spectrum issue is going to be around for a long time."
Shapiro also stressed the importance of immigration, tax and patent reform. Shapiro said he has confidence that if House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, brings immigration legislation to the floor it will pass. “We need progress in this,” he said. “Our nation is falling down while others are going up. We see now Canada advertising on billboards in San Francisco saying, ‘You have visa problems, come to us.'” Because of U.S. visa and tax policies, U.S. companies “are being forced to invest overseas rather than in the U.S.,” he said. “That’s a national shame and it’s incumbent upon Congress to change it.”
CEA has not taken a position on handset unlocking, one of Wheeler’s early focuses as chairman, Shapiro said. “Generally we're very free market, we like consumer choice,” he said. “We think that products that consumers buy, they should be able to establish their own contractual relationships as long as they understand what they are and they are disclosed clearly.”
Among the products to be exhibited at CES next week are robots, drones and driver-less cars, Shapiro said. “In the future the debate will be ‘how do you want something?'” he said. “Do you want it air shipped to your house from a drone? Do you want … to print it yourself in 3D? Or do you want to have a driver-less car drop it off at your house?”