FCC Commissioner slams San Jose mayor for not approving 5G cells… then slams him for approving them

If you ever had any doubt that the triumvirate of FCC Commissioners – the Pai Men – who decide America's federal telecoms policy are always right, it was confirmed Friday. On Thursday, the mayor of Silicon Valley capital's San Jose, Sam Liccardo, penned an editorial in the New York Times cussing the FCC for passing policies …

[goldcd]

"and the imposition of a flat free for hosting a cell site"

Sign me up - I'll host whatever you want for free housing.

Can only assume the uptake's been dimmed in 'merica until it gets rephrased to a 'condo'

[Mark 85]

It's not idiocy

It seems idiocy is contagious.

Not idiocy. It's more of "take the king's shilling, do the king's bidding." Or in this case, take the corporations' money/promises and do the corporations' bidding. The days of consumer watchdog agencies have long passed and we're now in corporate watchdog agency mode.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: It's not idiocy

Yes, but that doesn't mean Brendan Carr isn't an idiot. Available evidence, courtesy of Twitter, suggests that indeed he is.

It's perversely entertaining to watch Pai, O'Reilly, and Carr compete for Stupidest Public Statement of the Week.

[Anonymous Coward]

San Jose

Is hardly on the "wrong side of the digital divide", as I'm sure that idiot commissioner well knows. Most cities in the US could only dream about having their broadband options.

[JohnFen]

Not cuckoo. Corrupt.

"The FCC really has entered cloud cuckoo land"

It only looks that way if you're thinking that the FCC is actually about properly regulating the telecoms. However, when you accept that they're really about ensuring, to the best of their ability, the profit and power of the telecoms for as long as possible, then their words and actions make perfect sense.

[Anonymous Coward]

5G in 2015? What is he smokling?

5G standards are being finalized only now. And many of the early commercial attempts will probably have compatibility issues - something US telco always look to like.

Anyway Liccardo makes a good point - without a carrot and stick approach, telco will just put broadband access only when the ROI is very high, ignoring most of other areas. Just as it's happening with fiber. Anyway his plan of a free municipal wifi, is probably seen as a revenues killer form telcos, so they have to unleash the Pai Boys.

(The NYT oped is available here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/low-income-san-jose-california-broadband.html)

PS: I would anyway flog any teacher requiring to submit homeworks online - using any of the privacy slurping companies services and tools...

[the Jim bloke]

This is actually 'Draining the swamp'

by elevating the most corrupt to the highest positions, the muck will just naturally flow away from them.

Shame about any(every)one downstream.

[Mike Moyle]

I'm told that there is an old Russian proverb:

"Whether water is fresh or water is salty, shit floats."