STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI
Re:  Accelerating Wireless Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure 
Investment,WT Docket No. 17-79
Vincent van Gogh, one of the most gifted painters in history, said, “great things are done by a 
series of small things brought together.” It’s in this vein that we adopt this Order as a first step in
streamlining the rules for wireless infrastructure deployment.
Specifically, we exclude replacement utility poles from the burdens currently imposed by our 
historic preservation rules. This will help pave the way for 5G networks and services, powered as they’ll 
be by small cell antennas and the like attached to poles.  Significantly, we provide this relief only where 
there the replacement utility pole won’t affect historic properties (thus rendering the review process 
unnecessary).  
This is not a case of replacing van Gogh’s masterpiece, Starry Night, with the Crayola creations I 
make alongside my kids.  It’s simply substituting in the Potato Eaters or Irises—or in our world, one pole 
for another.  That simple change shouldn’t be accompanied by red tape.
I’d like to give special thanks to Commissioner Carr for agreeing to take the lead on the 
Commission’s review of wireless infrastructure issues, including this Order.  I look forward to working 
with him as we move forward with additional infrastructure streamlining initiatives.
I’d also like to thank the dedicated staff who worked in this item: Deborah Broderson, Garnet 
Hanly, Linda Oliver, Bill Richardson, Jennifer Salhus, Dana Shaffer, David Sieradski, Janet Sievert, Jill 
Springer, Jeff Steinberg, Don Stockdale, Suzanne Tetreault, Chana Wilkerson, and Mary Claire York.