Ajit Pai is no longer the Chairman of the FCC following the installation today of the new Biden administration. Pai got rid of Net Neutrality, the Obama-era rule that forced ISPs and wireless carriers to treat all streaming content the same. The majority of Americans want to see Net Neutrality reinstated which will probably happen under a new FCC Chairman. He did help pave the way for the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint by greenlighting the transaction after T-Mobile agreed to some conditions. And under his watch, the U.S. entered the 5G era.
Pai stated, “The Chinese Communist Party has a very determined world view. They want to dominate this space and exert their will — even beyond their own borders. That is a serious threat not just to internet freedom but to national security for us and for many of our allies.” Last month, the Chinese government rejected the theory that Chinese telecom firms were a national security threat to the U.S.
It isn’t clear when or even if the new Biden association plans on reversing some of the penalties placed on Huawei. Biden, of course, will have to replace Pai as FCC Chairman. One possible replacement could be current senior Democrat commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.
