Every month, I use this platform to tout the items on the FCC’s upcoming monthly meeting agenda and explain how they will help to address key challenges facing our country. For our December 2020 meeting, it’s not just me saying that the Commission is dealing with some heady issues. Last week, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien gave an interview in which he said the “number one concern” for democracy at home and abroad is the integrity of our communications networks. …

If you had to pick a central theme for the FCC’s work this fall, it would probably be unleashing mid-band spectrum for 5G wireless services. Since the last week of August, we’ve successfully completed the auction of 70 megahertz of licensed spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band — the first-ever auction of mid-band spectrum for 5G in the U.S. We proposed rules for making 100 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.45–3.55 GHz band available for innovative commercial operations. And we are on track to hold an auction of the lower 280 megahertz of the C-band, starting on December 8.

Now, just as the leaves are changing colors here in our nation’s capital, the Commission is moving forward on a new mid-band spectrum proposal with a slightly different look. The major new item on our November meeting agenda would repurpose mid-band spectrum for Wi-Fi and modern transportation-related communications. …

October has arrived, which means there’s a chill in the air, baseball playoffs on TV, and pumpkin spice in places where it doesn’t belong. Of course, there is no greater October tradition than Halloween. While nobody is quite sure what trick-or-treating will look like in a time of social distancing, I can say for sure that the agenda for the Commission’s October meeting will be filled with treats for consumers and innovators.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to start off that meeting by discussing a trick. In 2017, numerous Washington politicians, far-left special-interest groups, Hollywood stars, and Silicon Valley tech giants, as well as many in the media, tried to scare the American people about what would happen once the FCC adopted the Restoring Internet Freedom Order. In that order, we overturned the previous Administration’s decision to heavily regulate the Internet like a slow-moving utility under rules developed in the 1930s and restored the longstanding, bipartisan, market-based approach. The American people were told that they would get the Internet one word at a time. They were told that they would have to pay $5 per tweet. They were told that it would be the end of the Internet as we know it. …

For sports fans, this is the week we’ve all been waiting for. Football is finally back! In two days, the Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City Chiefs will begin their title defense and kick off the NFL season when they host the Houston Texans. (Did I mention my beloved Chiefs are Super Bowl champions?) The return of the NFL also means the return of fantasy football.

In this spirit, the FCC’s September agenda looks like a well-balanced fantasy team. Just as you would assemble a fantasy roster with a quarterback, running backs, receivers, a tight end, a kicker, and a defense, we’re rolling out a diverse lineup featuring at least one item from each of the Commission’s seven bureaus. …

If it weren’t for COVID-19, the Top Gun sequel would be in theaters right now. Nonetheless, you can rest assured that we’ll all be mavericks in three weeks. That’s because when it comes to our August meeting’s main attraction, repurposing C-band spectrum for 5G, we feel the need — the need for speed.

For some time now, the FCC has been aggressively executing the 5G FAST Plan — a comprehensive strategy for advancing American leadership in 5G. We want to ensure the United States is the first-mover in 5G innovation so we can attract the innovation, investment, talent, and other benefits that come with global leadership (or as Slider more colloquially said in Top Gun, “Remember boys, no points for second place”). Along these lines, one of the Commission’s most significant actions to date was our decision to clear the lower 280 megahertz of the C-band (3.7 GHz to 4.2 GHz) and make this spectrum available for 5G. …

During the pandemic, many Americans, like me, have been binge watching television shows while staying at home. And for 14 straight days in June, the most watched show on Netflix has been “13 Reasons Why,” a drama about teen suicide. There’s good reason why a suicide-themed drama is so culturally resonant at this moment.

Put simply, we are facing a suicide crisis in America. Since 1999, the number of suicides in America has gone up 35%. For young people, the suicide rate is rising even faster, up 56% over a decade. We are losing an American to suicide every 11 minutes. …

Since my first day as FCC Chairman, closing the digital divide has been my top priority. Meeting that priority has inspired our bread-and-butter work over the past three years. And the importance of extending Internet access to every American has never been clearer than during the coronavirus pandemic. If you don’t have an Internet connection at home, you don’t have the option of teleworking. Your children can’t participate in distance learning. And you can’t take advantage of telehealth visits with your doctor from the safety of your own home.

I’m proud that we’ve made significant progress over the past three years in reducing the number of Americans without access to high-speed broadband. By removing regulatory barriers to infrastructure deployment, we’ve helped bring the broadband industry’s investment in network infrastructure to the highest levels in more than a decade. From 2016 to 2018, the number of Americans without access to 25/3 Mbps fixed broadband service fell by more than 30%. During that same time period, the number of Americans with access to 250/20 Mbps fixed broadband service more than doubled. And 2018 and 2019 were record years for fiber deployment in the United States. …

Yesterday, a new poll came out that found more than 1 in 8 Americans used a video chat to consult with a health care professional during the past month. That’s more than double the percentage who report receiving care in an emergency room and triple the rate who went to an urgent care facility. This highlights the importance of telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic, and I’m proud of the role that the FCC is playing to expand telehealth opportunities. Thanks to Congressional action, the President’s signature, and quick work by FCC staff, the Commission has already pushed resources out the door to help healthcare providers meet the growing demand for telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission started accepting applications for our COVID-19 Telehealth Program last Monday, April 13. And in only three days, the Commission was able to process applications and award money for telehealth expansion to six medical facilities in hard-hit areas, from New York to New Orleans. And earlier today, we approved telehealth funding for another five healthcare providers from Michigan to California. Commission staff have done tremendous work processing these applications, and their efforts continue as they review all of the applications that we have received for this vital program. …