Trump Promises Telecom Executives Less Red Tape
June 22 2017 - 2:57PM
Dow Jones News
By Drew FitzGerald and Rebecca Ballhaus
President Donald Trump on Thursday told technology and telecom
executives the government will tackle federal regulations they
consider too restrictive but stopped short of announcing any
specific policies aimed at their industries.
The White House meeting drew executives from two dozen
companies, including AT&T Inc., Honeywell International Inc.
and General Electric Co. The discussions focused on sectors subject
to complex government oversight, such as wireless broadband, and
others still too new for fully developed rules, like airborne
drones.
"We want our innovators to dream big," the president said. "We
want them to create new companies and to create lots of jobs." He
criticized federal regulations that are "so bad, so out of
line."
The president congratulated GE chief executive Jeff Immelt on
his recently announced retirement plans and congratulated AT&T
CEO Randall Stephenson -- who was seated next to the president --
for having done "really a top job."
The president didn't address his administration's oversight of
corporate mergers -- one persistent focus for the telecom sector --
though some attendees have big deals awaiting the government's
blessing. AT&T last year announced an $85 billion takeover of
Time Warner Inc., owner of CNN and Turner's cable networks.
CenturyLink Inc. CEO Glen Post attended as his company seeks
regulatory approval for a $25 billion merger with rival Level 3
Communications Inc.
Thursday's meeting instead focused on the barriers to
investments in technology and network infrastructure. Much of the
chatter dealt with the fifth-generation wireless technology that
phone companies are developing to support faster connections to
cars, appliances and industrial systems. Mr. Stephenson touted the
importance of the 5G network's rollout, saying, "If we get this
right, we probably lead the world for another era in terms of
broadband."
"Everybody was zeroing in on the same thing, and that's about
speed," Verizon Communications Inc. executive John Stratton said.
"If you don't remove those barriers and friction to deployment, you
slow the pace of investment."
Mr. Stratton said much of the policy work discussed Thursday was
already in the works at the Federal Communications Commission and
on Capitol Hill. But, he added, it was "helpful to have the guy at
the top taking an interest in your industry."
The event piggybacked off another White House tech summit on
Monday. Leaders from Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp.
and others volunteered their help modernizing government IT
systems, though White House official's comments on their
initiatives shed little light on what policies, if any, the
administration plans to change.
The president also promised Wednesday that his infrastructure
spending proposal for Congress would carry support for rural
broadband, a potential boon for CenturyLink's largely rural
customer base. But Thursday's meeting included little mention of
how the government would fund that goal.
Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com and
Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 22, 2017 14:42 ET (18:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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