FCC chair accused of ignoring investment data in push to end net neutrality

Enlarge / FCC Chairman Ajit Pai listens during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC on June 20, 2017.

In his ongoing push to get rid of net neutrality rules, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai claimed this month that the rules caused capital investment in wireless networks to drop in 2016. But in doing so, Pai hasn't addressed data from earlier years that doesn't fit his anti-net neutrality narrative.

"The most concerning emerging issue we are seeing is that investment in wireless networks was down significantly in 2016," Pai said in a speech at Mobile World Congress on September 12. "According to the UBS Wireless 411 report, in fact, investment was down 9 percent, a huge drop outside of a recession."

Eliminating net neutrality rules and the related classification of broadband providers as common carriers will reverse the trend, Pai predicted. "In our Restoring Internet Freedom proceeding, the FCC is currently examining whether we should change our Internet regulations in order to encourage greater deployment and investment and bring digital opportunity to more Americans," he said.

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