New FCC chair vows ‘light-touch’ approach to regulation

Reuters: The new Republican head of the US Federal Communications Commission promised “light-touch” regulation of areas such as the internet, a dramatic shift away from the Obama administration’s approach to telecommunications oversight.

Ajit Pai, whom President Donald Trump named in January to chair the FCC, said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the agency made a “mistake” in 2015 when it adopted landmark “net neutrality rules” reclassifying internet service like a public utility. “The FCC decided to apply last-century, utility-style regulation to today’s broadband networks,” Pai said in prepared remarks released by his office.

“Our new approach injected tremendous uncertainty into the broadband market,” he added. “And uncertainty is the enemy of growth.”

The Obama administration’s net neutrality rules, which a federal appeals court upheld, bar internet access providers from slowing consumers’ access to web content.