Publications: Joe Kane

Claims that broadband service is becoming less affordable rely on selective data and abstract comparisons, while consumer-level price trends show the opposite—and point to targeted solutions to continue lowering prices for the average household.

The C band is a crucial first component of the OBBBA’s spectrum pipeline. The Commission can make the most of this pipeline by aggressively pursuing as much spectrum as possible for the most productive commercial use possible while ensuring flexibility to account for real-world technological developments.

The FCC is right to seek regulatory changes that would facilitate greater flexibility and thus more intensive use of upper microwave spectrum. The NPRM’s proposals should be tailored to maximize parties’ flexibility without pulling the rug out from under parties that have paid for protection from harmful interference.

If the year ahead in technology and innovation policy lives up to its potential, it could be a consequential one because there is a long list of important issues on the table. Herein, we offer 10 that are on top of our minds.

The Commission should keep its focus on how to enable consumers to benefit from wireless services and prevent state and local red tape from undermining those benefits.

The Commission is right to seek to remove regulatory impediments that hinder licensees from complying with their licenses and serving consumers, but the Public Notice rests on flawed premises that lead it to propose unwise and ineffective policy.

Rather than heed calls to erect more transaction costs in secondary spectrum markets, the Commission should continue down the path of enabling productivity-enhancing spectrum deals without cumbersome Commission processes or conditions.

ITIF urges NTIA to pair BEAD’s technology-neutral deployment reforms with targeted home-broadband affordability support—using remaining funds with tight eligibility guardrails—so the program truly closes the digital divide rather than stopping at infrastructure.

America’s wireless future depends on efficient spectrum use—and unlocking more federal airwaves for commercial innovation will strengthen both the economy and national security.

In City Journal, Joe Kane argues that FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s threats against broadcasters for airing political content he dislikes distort the law and risk turning the FCC into a tool for government censorship.