STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR Re: Updating the Commission’s Rule for Over-the-Air Reception Devices, WT Docket No. 19-71 Providing fast Internet to unserved communities can be a heavy lift. I learned that quite literally last June on a rooftop outside of Boston. I was at the headquarters of Starry https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1007695297382887425 , a wireless Internet service provider. It’s a startup that looks the part. It has industrial warehouse offices where t-shirts and shorts outnumbered my slacks. Starry was just beginning to expand its Boston footprint, especially in more working-class neighborhoods like those in Somerville, Mass. Starry’s concept is to beam high-speed Internet from a head-end—in this case, the roof of an office building—to equipment Starry installs on the top of dense housing, like an apartment building. From that access point on the building, it can provide service directly to routers in customers’ living rooms. At that time, at least, Starry’s radios and antennas were heavy—75 pounds or so. And the team had to be scrappy and opportunistic, finding the highest point with a clear line of sight to their target building. That meant hauling the 75 pounds of equipment up ladders and narrow chutes to the roof. When I showed up in a suit offering to help swap out an antenna, Starry’s techs, Maksim and Dan, were skeptical—and understandably so. But I did my part, or at least I thought so. Shortly after my visit, the equipment we installed went live, providing 200 Mbps Internet access to a building that previously didn’t have a high-speed option. Starry later partnered with the Boston Housing Authority to offer low-cost access to families in the area who needed it. Starry is one of many WISPs that provide access to hard-to-serve places. Other WISPs I’ve visited have attached antennas to barns and water towers. Two weeks ago in Ohio, I joined a WISP on top of a grain elevator that they’re using to beam broadband for miles around. Finding space on which to attach equipment is among the greatest challenges a WISP faces. And the challenge can be compounded by rules that restrict placement even when a property owner wants the equipment and service there. This Notice aims to expedite fast Internet access by clearing some of the impediments to siting WISPs’ equipment. It asks for data on the severity of siting issues and how they might impede service. I am interested in the feedback we will get, including on the scope of our legal authority to expand our OTARD rules in the ways we seek comment on here. So I want to thank the Wireless Bureau for its work on this Notice. It has my support.