5 questions with Ajit Pai

Ajit Pai was raised in Parsons – and now sits on the Federal Communications Commission, which has been making huge decisions about how you experience the Internet and mobile.

In February, the FCC enacted rules to ensure “net neutrality.” The idea is that the government should prevent the companies that own the wires, such as AT&T, from having a free hand in deciding which content providers, such as Netflix, use the Internet, how fast their content streams are and how much they pay.

Proponents say net neutrality keeps the big content producers from strangling small competitors by outspending them for access – and keeps consumer prices down.

Although appointed by President Obama in 2012, Pai is one of two Republicans on the commission. He is an avid free market supporter and has taken a strong stand against net neutrality, saying that allowing the telecoms more control over their own property will give them bigger profits, but it will also attract more investment in capacity and, eventually, more competition.

The free market will set fair prices, he said, making heavy users pay more and leaving most people unaffected.

Before being named to the FCC, Pai was an attorney in Washington, D.C., specializing in telecommunications regulation. He has also served on the staff of the FCC and as a lawyer for Verizon Communications.

He was born in Buffalo, N.Y., but was largely raised in Parsons and went to Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School, barely missing Professor Barack Obama at the school. His parents, immigrants from India, still practice medicine in Labette County.

Pai will speak at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Wichita for a gathering of the Bill of Rights Institute. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited, so reserve a seat at www.wichitaforums.com.

The appearance is underwritten by the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation.

Q. What will you talk about Thursday?

A. I’ll be talking about how the Internet is one of the great innovations in history and part of the reason why that’s so is that the free marketing-oriented regulatory approach has allowed the private sector to take the risk and build a platform that is the envy of the world.

Q. What is net neutrality?

A. Traditionally, net neutrality was the notion that Internet service providers, ISPs, should not be gatekeepers standing between online consumers and lawful content. Unfortunately, it has morphed over the years into the notion that the government should micromanage all parts of networks using heavy-handed rules that it originally developed in the 1930s to regulate Ma Bell and simply don’t reflect the marketplace today, in my opinion.

Q. Why do you oppose net neutrality?

A. What I hear when I travel around America, especially rural America, is not that ISPs are blocking access to lawful content, it’s that people want more competition, faster Internet and better prices. Net neutrality regulations take exactly the opposite direction. The regulation the FCC enacted will make it harder to make a business case for deploying capital, especially in rural areas.

Q. Where are the FCC regulations now?

A. It is in court, and the Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., will hear oral arguments … Dec. 4 and at some point thereafter the court will make its decision. Whichever party loses is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, and it’s expected the Supreme Court will be the ultimate arbiter of where these regulations go.

This is the FCC’s third bite at the apple. They enacted them in 2008 and the court rejected them in 2010. The second time was in 2010 and the court rejected them in 2014, so on average it’s taken about three years to get this resolved, so we might be in for a bit of a wait while the federal judiciary wrestles with it.

Q. What other important issues is the FCC facing?

A. One is spectrum. Increasingly the Internet is a mobile proposition. Young people use their smartphones on a daily, hourly basis, and the applications such as mobile video, it’s increasingly important for the FCC to make sure we have enough spectrum to meet consumer demand.

This story was originally published November 11, 2015 at 5:11 PM with the headline "5 questions with Ajit Pai."