Obama picks Genachowski to reform FCC
Published: 14 January, 2009
READ MORE: Regulation
The new head of US regulator the FCC is to be Julius Genachowski, a Harvard Law School classmate of president elect Barack Obama, who has been heavily involved in the new Technology and Innovation Plan and was previously chief counsel to former FCC chair Reed Hundt.
The expected nomination of Genachowski would require confirmation by the Senate, but this should not present hurdles, and the adviser is generally well respected in the telecoms industry for his in-depth policy knowledge as well as his intellect. He is expected to take a strong line on open access and improving competition and support for innovation in services.
His major initial challenge will be to improve the image of the FCC, which under current chair Kevin Martin has been accused of being secretive, exhausted of ideas and over-friendly to the large carriers. He will also need to address a long list of key issues, as outlined by RCRnews.com - "spectrum and license concentration, roaming, open access, universal service fund/intercarrier compensation reform, carrier equipment exclusivity arrangements, the 700MHz D-Block public safety/commercial re-auction, AWS-3 rules, towers and privacy" - (and even migratory birds).
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