Thread by @EvanS_FCC

Updated link! LIVE Now: @AjitPaiFCC's final address on the #DigitalDivide. He'll discuss the FCC's actions to bring more Internet access to more Americans, including:

✅Groundbreaking reverse auctions
✅Regulatory reforms
✅Modernizing Universal Service

"On my first full day in this job in January 2017, I convened a meeting of the FCC’s staff. ... I told the team that my number one priority as FCC Chairman would be closing the digital divide and bringing the benefits of the Internet age to all Americans." - @AjitPaiFCC

"In 1934, the U.S. government thought it was so important that every American have access to the telephone network that it created a new agency dedicated to that purpose. Now think about the countless ways that we rely on high-speed broadband connectivity today." - @AjitPaiFCC

"Over the next four years, I visited 49 states and two U.S. territories. ... I logged about 15,000 miles in ... rental cars. Some of my stops helped to show how high-speed Internet access can open up new possibilities for the American people." - @AjitPaiFCC

"Other visits helped to shine a light on how the lack of high-speed Internet access causes problems for the people and places being bypassed by the digital revolution." - @AjitPaiFCC

"If you met the people I met, and heard the stories I heard, you couldn’t help but be committed to working relentlessly to connect all Americans. And that’s exactly what the FCC has done over the past four years." - @AjitPaiFCC

"Our strategic reforms fall into two categories. The first involves changes to the Universal Service Fund, through which we direct subsidies ... to build out broadband. The second involves regulatory reforms to strengthen the business case for deployment." - @AjitPaiFCC

"One big innovation we’ve introduced on my watch has been the reverse auction. The reasoning is simple. Using competitive bidding to allocate support will help ensure that it is distributed more efficiently." - @AjitPaiFCC

"What we call technological neutrality gave providers the flexibility to use the broadband technology that best fit their customers’ needs, so long as they met the FCC’s stringent performance standards for fixed service and buildout timelines." - @AjitPaiFCC

"In the end, we proved the naysayers wrong: The reverse auction approach was a success, promoting competition, connecting consumers, and saving taxpayer funds." - @AjitPaiFCC

"But mobile is important, too. We don’t want consumers to be left out from the wireless revolution—especially 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity. That’s why the Commission is going big to promote 5G deployment in unserved areas." - @AjitPaiFCC

"We established a 5G Fund for Rural America, which will use a two-phase, multi-round reverse auction to distribute up to $9 billion to bring 5G-capable networks to parts of our country that would be unlikely to see 5G service without subsidies." - @AjitPaiFCC

"The Commission awarded more than $127 million to two carriers in Puerto Rico to deploy at least 100 Mbps broadband service to every Puerto Rican home and business, with nearly one-third of them receiving gigabit service." - @AjitPaiFCC

"And we awarded $84.5 million to a carrier in the U.S. Virgin Islands to deploy gigabit broadband service to every home and business in the USVI." - @AjitPaiFCC

"Consider our Rural Health Care Program ... This program’s budget had always been flat ... But telehealth demands are growing, and connected care solutions are improving. In recognition of these trends, in 2018 we raised the program’s budget, by more than 40%, to $571 million."

"Our governing philosophy here is that we want to align the incentives of broadband service providers with the public interest. In other words, we want to do everything we can to encourage them to invest, deploy, and compete in delivering better services at lower prices."

"A large part of this work is removing regulatory barriers that slow the pace and raise the costs of network investment. For example, to make it quicker and cheaper to enable new attachments to poles, we adopted our “one-touch make-ready” policy." - @AjitPaiFCC

"In the past few years, we’ve seen record-breaking capital investments in broadband infrastructure. In 2018, and then again in 2019, the United States set records for annual fiber deployment. The number of new cell sites in the United States has skyrocketed." - @AjitPaiFCC

"We’ve also seen significant increases in broadband speeds. Since December 2017, the average download speeds for fixed broadband in the United States have doubled." - @AjitPaiFCC

"I’ve been talking about closing the digital divide since the first day of my Chairmanship ... But ... 2020 will go down as inflection point in how we think about the digital divide. The pandemic has ended any debate about the need to expand Internet access to all Americans."

"Broadband is not a luxury. It is a necessity for modern American life." - @AjitPaiFCC

"As soon as it became apparent that millions of Americans would need to maintain access to networks for telework, telehealth, distance learning, and the like, the Commission immediately sprang into action." - @AjitPaiFCC

"Among our many efforts back in March, I called on our nation’s broadband and telephone service providers to take what we called the Keep Americans Connected Pledge." - @AjitPaiFCC

"Back when I was a Commissioner in 2016, I proposed that Congress should authorize a dividend from the sale of wireless spectrum that would go toward closing the digital divide." - @AjitPaiFCC

"Whenever the FCC auctioned spectrum for flexible use, we would set aside 10% of the net auction proceeds for the deployment of broadband in unserved communities.

I thought it was a good idea then. I think it’s a good idea now. But I believe we can be even bolder." - @AjitPaiFCC

"If there were ever a time to set aside auction funding to close the digital divide, it’s right now." - @AjitPaiFCC

"Even in those places I visited that were offline, I was inspired by the determination of the people in those places to aspire to something better and to fight to make it possible." - @AjitPaiFCC

"Because for all the challenges we face, the opportunities are so much greater. It’s been the greatest honor of my life to help the American people seize those opportunities." - @AjitPaiFCC