STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI
Re:	Amendment of the Schedule of Application Fees Set Forth in Sections 1.1102 through 1.1109 of the Commission’s Rules, MD Docket No. 20-270.
Today’s order adopting a new, streamlined schedule of application fees for the Commission is a big achievement.  And it’s one that took staff hundreds of hours of work to complete, requiring a top-to-bottom review of our work across the agency.  As such, I think it only fitting to recognize those who dipped the laboring oar to get this done: Cheryl Collins, Warren Firschein, Roland Helvajian, Deena Shetler, and Sally Stone from the Office of the Managing Director; Susan Aaron, Michael Carlson, Stephen Duall, Nathan Eagan, David Horowitz, Andrea Kelly, Doug Klein, David Konczal, Keith McCrickard, Brendan McTaggart, Bill Richardson, Royce Sherlock, Max Staloff, Elliot Tarloff, and Chin Yoo from the Office of General Counsel; William Huber, Richard Kwiatkowski, Mark Montano, Craig Stroup, Emily Talega, and Margaret Wiener from the Office of Economics and Analytics; Martin Doczkat, Ira Keltz, and Anthony Serafini from the Office of Engineering and Technology; Mika Savir and Kim Wild from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau; Tracy Bridgham, Lisa Griffin, and Lisa Saks from the Enforcement Bureau; Paul Blais, Kathleen Campbell, Denise Coca, Kim Cook, Clay DeCell, Nese Guendelsberger, Jocelyn Jeziemy, Karl Kensinger, David Krech, Kerry Murray, Stephanie Neville, Kathryn O’Brien, Jim Schlichting, Tom Sullivan, Troy Tanner, and Jay Whaley from the International Bureau; James Bradshaw, David Brown, Tom Horan, John Kiefer, Barbara Kreisman, Holly Sauer, and Lisa Scanlon from the Media Bureau; David Furth from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau; Diane Dupert, Ethan Lucarelli, Roger Noel, Jaclyn Rosen, John Schauble, Blaise Scinto, and Dana Shaffer from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau; and Kirk Burgee, Robin Cohn, Jodie May, Rodney McDonald, Doug Slotten, and Gil Strobel from the Wireline Competition Bureau.
I also write to correct a misnomer.  Specifically, one of my colleagues complains that we are increasing the cost of filing a “formal consumer complaint.”  However, such a complaint form does not exist.  The Commission has a two-track complaint process: consumers file “informal complaints” that cost nothing, while “formal complaints” create a trial-like process to adjudicate a dispute and are not designed for nor used by consumers (recent complainants include AT&T and Verizon).  That explains why not one consumer filed a formal complaint in 2019 or 2020, but consumers filed 300,000 informal complaints with the Commission in 2019 and another 285,000 such complaints in 2020.  In other words, consumers already do not “avail themselves of this process,” and there is no reason to think the congressionally mandated increase to our application fee (remember, in taking this step we’re following the law as set forth by Congress) would “easily deter them from doing so.”