Pai Says FCC is Preparing New TCPA Approach Against Robocalling, Defends OTMR Action

here, here) Tuesday in docket 18-5. Citing various anti-robocalling efforts, he said it's "time for the Commission to establish robust consumer protections in line with federal law," given a March U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling that struck down key parts of a 2015 agency order interpreting TCPA provisions (see 1803160053). "As I predicted in my dissent, the last Administration's order has left both the American customer and American enterprise worse off," he wrote. "This cannot possibly be what Congress intended." He noted that the FCC in May "sought comment on the definition of an 'automatic telephone dialing system,' the treatment of calls to reassigned numbers, and the scope of a consumer's right to revoke prior express consent to receive robocalls." It also sought further comment "on reconsidering the Broadnet decision and the 2016 Federal Debt Collection Rules, as well as the interplay between the Broadnet decision and the Budget Act amendments," he added. In an exchange with Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., Pai defended the FCC's recent adoption of one-touch, make-ready pole attachments as facilitating broadband deployment while protecting worker safety and the public (see 1808020034). The agency "is heading forward, not backward," he wrote. "We're favoring competition, not the status quo. We're pressing for gigabit fiber, not fading copper. We're embracing the promise of new entrants that want nothing more than a chance to compete, not the fears of incumbents who always find a way to say no."