FCC's Ruth Milkman: Wireless on verge of transformation

The Progress & Freedom Foundation is holding a panel right now to discuss wireless investment, innovation and competition. Ruth Milkman, chief of the FCC's Wireless Bureau, is one of the speakers, but she couldn't say much. The FCC is scheduled to vote on a net neutrality notice of rulemaking Thursday, and FCC employees are not allowed to hold discussions on issues on the FCC's agenda for the week prior to the meeting.

So Milkman said as much as she could before ducking out in order to not break the "sunshine" rules:

"This is a transformational year for the commission as a whole and a the wireless bureau in particular," she said. "Broadband is the future of mobile, and the opposite is also true. Mobile is essential to the succesful future of broadband."

She said the FCC needs to "unleash spectrum" for wireless technology and remove obstacles to the development of 4G networks.

"Consumers take laptops and netbooks wherever they go and they expect an open Internet," she said. "We will be sensitive to the differences between wireless and wireline, in terms of technology, industry structure and history."

"These are not final rules," she said of the item before the FCC this week. "This is a notice. There will be plenty of time to submit comments."

When she was asked whether the FCC thinks the wireless industry is not competitive enough, she responded:

"There is tremendous agreement that wireless is vibrant and contributes to the economy," she said. "It’s a phenomenal set of services and applications. Just because there’s a lot of attention focused on the wireless industry, it’s almost like a parent focusing on a favorite child... The chairman is extremely interested in wireless industry. We just got started a little earlier than the other bureaus in focusing on what we need to do."

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