FCC Chairman to Resign Next Week

In a not entirely unsurprising move, the Chairman of the USA's telecoms regulator, the FCC has announced that he will resign effective the day that Barack Obama become President of the country. FCC Chairman, Kevin J. Martin has had political battles with the Democrat dominated Congress, and the prospect of a Democrat dominated government would have made his position very uncomfortable.

In his letter of resignation to President Bush, Martin wrote, "I have had the privilege of serving at the Federal Communications Commission for almost 8 years, including 4 years as the agency's Chairman. During this period, we have seen a telecommunications industry undergoing rapid and unprecedented change. As a result of the market-oriented and consumer focused policies we have pursued the American people are now reaping the rewards of convergence and the broadband revolution including new and more innovative technologies and services at ever declining prices."

During his time at the head of the FCC, the government earned significant revenues from auctions of radio spectrum - but he also approved corporate mergers with minimal conditions on the companies and was involved in the ill-fated attempt to create a free national wireless broadband service.

A report from the House Commerce Committee last year was scathing in its views of the FCC under his leadership. The report had accused the regulator of "egregious abuses of power, suppression of information and manipulation of data under chairman Martin's leadership."

Upon his departure from the Commission, Chairman Martin will serve as a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C.

President-elect Obama is widely expected to nominate his technology adviser, Julius Genachowski, a former official of the FCC, to take over at the regulator.

Posted to the site on 16th January 2009