STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI Re: Modernizing the FCC Form 477 Data Program, WC Docket No. 11-10; Development of Nationwide Broadband Data to Evaluate Reasonable and Timely Deployment of Advanced Services to All Americans, Improvement of Wireless Broadband Subscribership Data, and Development of Data on Interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Subscribership; WC Docket No. 07-38; Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, Infrastructure and Operating Data Gathering, WC Docket No. 08-190; Review of Wireline Competition Bureau Data Practices, WC Docket No. 10-132. Re: Review Of Wireline Competition Bureau Data Practices, WC Docket No. 10-132; Computer III Further Remand Proceedings: Bell Operating Company Provision of Enhanced Services; 1998 Biennial Regulatory Review – Review of Computer III and ONA Safeguards and Requirements, CC Docket Nos. 95-20, 98-10. Commission policymaking is only as good as the facts and data on which our decisions are based. That’s why data reform has been an important priority since I arrived here as Chairman. It’s why it’s vital that the Commission collects the data it needs to do its job and serve the public, why the Commission shouldn’t waste resources collecting data it doesn’t need, and why, wherever possible, we should use modern technology to increase the benefits of data collection and reduce the burdens. It was with these principles in mind that I appointed Mary Beth Richards as Special Counsel for FCC Reform as one of my very first actions, and charged her and our FCC Reform Team, including Chief of our Office of Strategic Planning Paul de Sa, our new Chief Data Officer Greg Elin and the new data officers in the bureaus and offices, Managing Director Steven VanRoekel, and General Counsel Austin Schlick with conducting an agency-wide data review. This Data Innovation Initiative is a comprehensive effort to modernize and streamline how we collect, use, and disseminate data. I am very pleased that in the first phase of the reform team’s review, staff has identified 20 discrete data collections to target for elimination. These are collections that once made sense, but appear to have become unnecessary as technology, markets, and policies have evolved. Today, we are formally proposing the elimination of two of these—the comparably efficient interconnection and open network architecture reporting obligations—and I am instructing the FCC Reform Team and our data officers to move forward on the other 18, while continuing their agency-wide data review. I’m also pleased to announce that today the Wireline Competition Bureau will be eliminating a separate outdated reporting requirement imposed on a carrier more than 20 years ago. That collection was imposed for reasons that no longer justify the costs it imposes on the carrier, or on the Commission. We approach the review we launch today—of one of the FCC’s most important data-gathering tools, Form 477—in the same spirit of efficient, effective governance. Since 2000, the FCC has relied on data gathered through Form 477 to inform its policies relating to voice and broadband services. In 2004 and in 2008, the Commission made modifications to parts of the Form 477 program in order to collect more information. And now—in view of ongoing changes in technology and the marketplace, and questions raised about the existing Form—we ask stakeholders to help us take a comprehensive look at the Form 477 program and update its design to answer today’s questions, not yesterday’s. This review—another recommendation of the National Broadband Plan—will help us fulfill important statutory obligations, including promoting broadband in unserved areas, promoting competition, and ensuring public safety. It will also ensure that we don’t collect voice and broadband data that we no longer need. These data efforts are just part of the FCC Reform Team’s larger initiative to remove regulatory barriers to a thriving broadband economy. In the last year, the Commission has taken a number of actions to deliver on this goal, including expediting licensing of spectrum that can be used for broadband services; lifting restrictions on some mobile satellite spectrum that can be used for broadband; setting limits on how long localities can take to approve or deny tower sharing requests; significantly streamlining the E-Rate program’s application forms; and making it easier for radio stations to certify compliance with our rules. A few weeks ago, as part of this effort, we launched our biennial review of the FCC’s telecommunications regulations to determine which of our regulations are no longer necessary due to competition. Tomorrow we will be hosting a conference with leaders from across the broadband marketplace to identify further opportunities to remove regulatory barriers to broadband buildout. And there is more to come, particularly when it comes to using technology to promote FCC reform and improved interaction with the public. All of these efforts are in line with the President’s recent executive order to ensure that our regulatory systems “use the best, most innovative, and least burdensome tools for achieving regulatory ends” in order to “promot[e] economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation.” As I informed senior staff last week, I expect the FCC to perform its responsibilities consistent with the principles in the executive order. In the months ahead, we will continue to look for opportunities to use modern technology and common sense to help make the FCC a model of excellence in government. I thank the data reform team for the important reforms it has already identified.