Biden’s pick for acting FCC Chairwoman voted for net neutrality and against the T-Mobile-Sprint merger
According to the FCC, Rosenworcel’s goal is to “promote greater opportunity, accessibility, and affordability” when it comes to communications. When then FCC Chairman Pai led the FCC’s removal of net neutrality under the misleading “Restoring Internet Freedom” initiative vote, Jessica made it clear where she stood on net neutrality. She stated that by removing the rules of net neutrality from the agency’s books, the FCC was “on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the American Public.” She added, “So let’s persist. Let’s fight. Let’s not stop here or now. It’s too important. The future depends on it.” Last February, the FCC was required to get comments from the public about the removal of net neutrality. This gave Rosenworcel the opportunity to release a new statement. “The FCC got it wrong when it repealed net neutrality,” she wrote. “My advice? The American Public should raise their voices and let Washington know how important an open internet is for every piece of our civic and commercial lives.”
The current acting FCC Chairman also voted against the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. While the transaction made it through the FCC by a 3-2 tally thanks to certain concessions made by T-Mobile related to future 5G data speeds and market share. Despite the agreement between the agency and the carrier, Rosenworcel wasn’t convinced that the merger would be good for the public saying that it would hurt consumers by raising prices and leading to job losses. Discussing the FCC’s approval of the merger, she said that “In deciding to overlook these harms, the FCC and the Department of Justice have been wooed by a few unenforceable concessions and hollow promises from the two companies involved.”
The T-Mobile-Sprint merger would, the commissioner said, “end a golden age in wireless” that led to lower prices, innovation, unlimited data and international roaming. Her forecast, which seemingly will end up proven wrong, stated that “In short, our existing wireless market will devolve into a cozy oligopoly dominated by just three carriers. They will do nothing to make it easier for Americans to stay connected.”
