When Republican telecom shill Ajit Pai became the head of the FCC, he began lying about the need to free big telecom business from the chains of net neutrality regulations in order to encourage their investment in infrastructure such as wireless. Pai could provide zero evidence that telecoms were being reticent in their deployment of wireless. In fact, there was nothing but evidence to show that the only infrastructure build-out of broadband and wireless high-speed internet services seemed to happen in spite of regulations and tax incentives.
More recently*, the big promise from Republicans like Pai and telecommunications companies is that we need not worry about the broken promises of high-speed broadband deployment throughout the country, for the future is bright with 5G wireless! To that end, Chairman Pai’s FCC voted to limit municipalities on what they could charge in permits—an estimated $2 billion in state and local revenues just handed over to telecoms. Very shortly after that vote, Verizon CFO Matt Ellis told investors during a meeting that getting a nice deal like that would not have “any effect” on the company’s deployment of 5G wireless throughout the country. In fact, he said that Verizon would be reducing its deployment investment.
FierceWireless has looked into infrastructure spending by the wireless industry this year and reports that, lo and behold, wireless carriers have reduced their investment in building out their infrastructure!
Sprint, Verizon and AT&T have all reduced their overall capex numbers for 2018. The operators cite a variety of reasons, from timing issues to more efficient network technologies. But the ultimate result is the same: Where there was once excitement, now there’s a decided sense of pragmatism.
There are a few reasons this has happened, but those reasons do not change one very obvious fact: Big telecoms are receiving record tax breaks and enjoying unprecedented deregulation, and they have simply pocketed the money Republicans gifted them.
*Every day of this administration feels like a lifetime.
