AJIT PAI

To those who wish to shape the nation's political dialogue, social media is dangerous.

To realize the promise of 5G, we will need smart networks, not dumb pipes. Dumb pipes won't deliver smart cities. Dumb pipes won't enable millions of connected, self-driving cars to navigate the roads safely at the same time.

I think it's dangerous to make a decision based on where one thinks the public may or may not be. Aside from the fact that that's not what the law prescribes, it's also, I think, not what reasoned decision-making is all about... You always try to look at the facts and apply the law faithfully.

In the United States, the government has no business entering the marketplace of ideas to establish an arbiter of what is false, misleading, or a political smear.

Imagine a world where everything that can be connected will be connected - where driverless cars talk to smart transportation networks and where wireless sensors can monitor your health and transmit data to your doctor. That's a snapshot of what the 5G world will look like.

My own view is that the Internet should be run by technologists and engineers and business people, not by lawyers and bureaucrats here in the nation's capital.

Everyone believes that artificial or prerecorded calls - 'robocalls,' as they're known - are awful. They're intrusive. They're unwanted.

Hyperbolic headlines always attract more attention than mundane truths.

Entrepreneurs are constantly developing new technologies and services. But too often, they're unable to bring them quickly to market for consumers because regulatory inertia stands in the way. Unfortunately, the FCC can suffer from this government-wide problem.

I'll never forget the first time I heard Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Partita in E Major' for violin. It was in a late-1980s television commercial, of all things. As a young violinist at the time, it enchanted me - it was so pure, precise, and unadorned.

In my first remarks as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to the agency's terrific staff, I stressed that one of my top priorities would be to close the digital divide - the gap between those who use cutting-edge communications services and those who do not.

The federal government has no business spending your hard-earned money on a project to monitor political speech on Twitter.

Heavy-handed regulations hurt the very consumers they're supposed to help.

I support a free and open Internet.

There is no reason why any legitimate caller should be spoofing an unassigned or invalid phone number. It's just a way for scammers to evade the law.

Our rules need to keep pace with current technology so that Americans who use hearing aids can easily use phones.

For too long, Americans have been plagued by unwanted and unlawful robocalls. For too long, they've found unauthorized charges and changes to their phone service on their bills - practices commonly known as 'slamming' and 'cramming.' And for too long, some phone calls that are placed to rural residents have been dropped.

There is no reason why any legitimate caller should be spoofing an unassigned or invalid number. And providers shouldn't be sued for doing the right thing by blocking illegitimate spoofing.

One of the great joys of my job is having the privilege of meeting people from all across the country and hearing their stories.

The free market for mobile devices and wireless service has been a dramatic success.

Throughout the history of communications, we've seen that the country that sets the pace in rolling out each new generation of wireless technology gains an economic edge.

Rules designed for the Ma Bell monopoly during the era of rotary phones were a poor fit for the greatest innovation of our time, the Internet.

Let the free market for wireless services and devices flourish. If the government gets out of the way, the wireless marketplace will continue to be an American success story.

We all have an interest in an open Internet.

Protecting consumers goes beyond just fighting illicit schemes. It also involves making sure that they get what they pay for. Unfortunately, rural telephone customers aren't always assured of that.