Over the course of two full days of appearances in San Francisco this week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and three of his fellow commissioners covered a lot of ground, including 5G network deployment, small cell installation, broadcast spectrum auctions, emergency response, competition in the wireless industry and closing the digital divide. They even waxed eloquent over favorite music and preferred phone apps.

But not once did the government officials utter the two words that have riveted the attention of the entire U.S. technology industry: net neutrality.

Chairman refuses comment

The closest Pai (pictured) came to talking about net neutrality at all occurred during his keynote speech before attendees at Mobile World Congress Americas on Tuesday, when he told the audience, “The FCC is currently examining whether we should change our Internet regulations to encourage greater deployment and investment.” At a subsequent appearance in San Francisco on Tuesday evening before members of the Lincoln Network, when he was asked directly by Recode journalist Ina Fried about the FCC’s proposal to undo rules enacted in 2015 for a free and open Internet, Pai refused to comment because it was a “pending proceeding” before the Commission.

The controversy surrounding the proposed changes stems from industry fears that removal of the controls would allow Internet providers to deliberately block, slow down services, or favor certain content over others. The FCC has received more than 22 million public comments on the proposal to dismantle the rules. Google Inc., Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., and Amazon.com Inc. are among the many tech companies opposing the potential changes, otherwise known as “Restoring Internet Freedom.”

Despite the FCC officials’ reluctance to address the firestorm of concern surrounding net neutrality, they were quite open when it came to discussing other subjects that were of great interest to the mobile industry in particular. The major themes echoed in both Pai’s remarks and those of FCC commissioners centered around ensuring competition remains strong in wireless, allowing the free market to work and removing industry regulation wherever possible.

No interest in IoT device regulation

“It’s critical that we try not to attack any U.S. companies,” said FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly during an appearance on Wednesday with two of his colleagues at the Mobile World Congress event. Mentioning that he took a stroll around the trade show floor where exhibitors showcased a number of IoT-connected devices, O’Rielly also told the gathering that he was “excited to see all the things that the FCC will not be regulating.”

Greater broadband deployment and the coming of 5G are also very much on the minds of the FCC commissioners these days. Estimates from CTIA, an association of wireless industry companies, indicate that 5G alone will create 3 million jobs in the U.S. alone. “The way I view this space is through the jobs it’s going to create,” said newly appointed FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr.

Bad actors block small cells

The demands of 5G are also going to require an expanded wireless infrastructure for deployment and this is fueling the installation of powerful small cells in place of unsightly large cell towers. But only 12 states have passed legislation to streamline the approval process for small cell installations. The FCC is beginning to take a hard look at cities that are delaying deployment in red tape or charging excessive permitting fees hindering the rollout.

“There are bad actors in this space,” said O’Rielly, who described his frustration after a recent visit to New Orleans, Louisiana where uninstalled small cells were “rotting” in the hot sun.

Under Pai’s leadership, the FCC will clearly be pushing for greater broadband access around the country. When President Donald Trump presented his infrastructure package to Congress earlier this year, it included improvements in broadband access, something that Pai noted in his remarks on Tuesday evening. “Internet access is critical,” said Pai. “Access to broadband is not a Democratic issue, it’s not a Republican one, it’s an American issue.”

There has been little legislative action from Congress in 2017, but the FCC has been one of the more active agencies in the federal government. Since Pai was named chairman in January, the FCC placed a freeze on low-income household access to broadband subsidies, rolled back caps on carrier charges for businesses who want to get online and took the brakes off of television station mergers. Pai has already announced that the FCC will address oversight rules for the satellite industry, investigate ways to streamline 911 dialing, remove some of the regulations governing small, rural wireless providers and look into holding a public auction for unassigned toll-free numbers.

It’s a busy agenda for a commission and a chairman who clearly intend to tackle the challenges facing the communications ecosystem in the U.S. Just don’t ask any of the FCC members to talk about net neutrality.

Photo: Mobile World Congress 2017