PREPARED REMARKS OF FCC ACTING CHAIRWOMAN MIGNON L. CLYBURN CTIA 2013 LAS VEGAS, NEVADA MAY 21, 2013 Good morning. Before we begin, I wanted to take a brief moment to offer my deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones as a result of the devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma. We hope the worst has passed. In the meantime, the FCC will continue to monitor, evaluate and respond as needed to help ensure our nation's communications infrastructure works when people need it most. These are the times when Americans must be able to communicate with family, friends and emergency personnel. Thank you for being here. They say the first rule of being an Acting Chair, is not to take unnecessary gambles or risks. So on my first full day, what do I do? Hop on a plane for Las Vegas. Let me begin by thanking Steve Largent for two things. First, for inviting me to join you today and second, for not scheduling this session opposite J.Lo. I wish to congratulate U.S. Cellular’s Mary Dillon, on her election as Chairwoman for 2013, and thank CTIA, for working with the FCC on a number of issues critical to consumers and our economy. You voluntarily stepped up to reduce the problem of bill shock and today approximately 97 percent of U.S. wireless customers receive an alert when they are approaching monthly limits for voice, text, data and international roaming services. This is a big win for most consumers. You are also helping with the growing problem of mobile phone theft, launching an educational campaign to inform consumers about passwords and PINs and how to erase data from smartphones. You’ve implemented a database to prevent stolen phones from being reactivated, a key to drying up the underground market for stolen phones. And you are working with the nation’s four largest wireless carriers to deploy text-to-911 services. This voluntary commitment to nationwide availability of text-to- 911 by May 15, 2014 in locations where the 9-1-1 call center is prepared to receive the texts is a potential life saver. And I appreciate CTIA’s support of the FCC’s efforts to unleash more spectrum for broadband, and in particular your work to get voluntary incentive auctions authorized by Congress. My goal during this transitional period is simple: to keep the agency moving in the right direction. This requires three key things: openness and transparency, ensuring that the public understands and engages with the agency; expediency, processing and making decisions in as timely a manner as possible; and a continued focus on the consumer. And when I say consumers, I mean retaining the focus on both individuals and industry, for CTIA’s members are providing services and devices to consumers all day, every day. Looking ahead, I can assure you that maximizing the benefits of mobile communications will continue to be a top priority for the FCC. The growth of the wireless industry and the opportunities being unleashed by the mobile revolution is nothing short of remarkable. The percentage of American adults who rely solely on commercial mobile providers for voice service has now reached 34 percent and for those whose incomes are below the poverty line, that figure is an amazing 52 percent. I often chuckle when we use the term telephone because today’s devices are about so much more than making calls. When I arrived at the Commission just under four years ago, the apps ecosystem was in its infancy, but just last week Apple passed the 50 billion mark for downloaded applications. And when we speak about these software designs, we are not just talking about those apps, but actual jobs – with more than 500,000 created in this space in the U.S. so far. And the share of mobile Internet connections meeting our broadband definition doubled in just a year. Mobile innovation is key to U.S. competitiveness. We currently lead the world in LTE deployment, with about as many LTE subscribers as the rest of the world combined. But maintaining this lead will only happen if we address one of the biggest challenges to our mobile future -- the demand for spectrum. The National Broadband Plan helped put the issue of spectrum squarely on the map, and the agency is doing a lot of creative things to make more spectrum available. Over the past four years, we have initiated and implemented significant spectrum policy innovations under Chairman Genachowski’s leadership and are moving full speed ahead during this transition period. The Incentive Auctions team is continuing to work on, and evaluate, all of the input and proposals received during our workshops and webinars, and the Commission remains on track to issue auction rules this year and conduct an auction in 2014. While the voluntary incentive auction proceeding receives much of the attention these days, it is hardly the only wireless engagement in our portfolio. Consistent with Congress’s directives in the Spectrum Act, we are moving forward with plans to auction 10 megahertz of spectrum in the H Block, and 55 megahertz in other bands, as required by the Act. We not only plan to clear and reallocate spectrum. The FCC is continuing to promote new strategies to use spectrum more efficiently. We are promoting innovative ways to share spectrum, such as facilitating small cell technology in the 3.5 GHz band. Our federal partners at the Commerce Department currently plan to meet in June to complete their recommendations on sharing in the 1755 – 1850 MHz band and we will continue to work with them to ensure the most efficient use of spectrum all the way around. The FCC’s wireless agenda remains focused not only on licensed, but unlicensed spectrum. Building on our TV White Spaces order, we launched a proceeding in December to spur greater use of unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band and I will continue to encourage staff to find innovative ways, to promote unlicensed spectrum use. Earlier this month, we initiated a proceeding to establish air-ground mobile broadband service as a secondary allocation in the 14 GHz KU band. This could dramatically enhance the quality of in-flight Wi- Fi on planes. I will encourage staff to work with primary licensees in the KU band and companies who are interested in providing this higher speed Internet service so that the flying public has an opportunity to access high quality broadband service on commercial aircraft. Universal Service Reform and implementation will continue to be a high priority, as it has been, since I became a Commissioner. This includes implementation of Connect America Fund Phase II, which remains on track, as well as ensuring that we move forward expeditiously with additional support for mobile services through Mobility Fund II and the Tribal Mobility Fund I auction. In addition to these initiatives, the Commission remains committed to promoting competition in every sector of the wireless market structure. Competition is an essential driver of investment and innovation and must be preserved as it is the best way to protect the growing percentage of Americans who rely solely on mobile services for their communication needs. We have taken a light regulatory touch, but have “touched” when necessary to ensure clear rules of the road and fair play. I am proud of the job we’ve done at the Commission over the last four years, but our work is far from done. There are many smaller carriers who serve rural America or who compete regionally that add great customer service, struggling for a foothold. These carriers serve rural America, compete regionally and add great customer service. So we will continue to work hard to ensure that all Americans are served and are served by a competitive and fair environment. Thank you again for working with the Commission on key initiatives in the past and my door will remain open as we build on the past four years to maximize the potential of mobile communications to improve the lives of the American people. Thank you.