Ch-ch-ch-changes
06/12/2009 14:41
Lots going on at the FCC this week – all good stuff, I think. The FCC now has the first round of comments on a national broadband plan and we’ll see more feedback by July 7. It takes a village to craft a policy, right? xchange is tracking the major issues popping up in the comments; consider this week’s piece on broadband speed definition just a start. There were also some interesting staff changes at the FCC. For starters, Acting Chairman Michael Copps brought Blair Levin back to the agency. Levin, most recently a telecom analyst at investment bank Stifel Nicolaus, was FCC Chief of Staff under Reed Hundt. So he’s pretty much seen and done it all when it comes to a transforming communications industry. He’s tasked with helping craft the national broadband strategy, and there’s probably no one better suited to the job. And there was one more notable staff change. Kent Nilsson, a career FCC staffer, retired from his most recent post as inspector general. That’s the role to which former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin appointed Nilsson. And Nilsson allegedly abused the privileges of the job – he now is under investigation – and reportedly didn’t play well with Democratic others, all of which would explain his departure now. At the very least, Copps is cleaning up Martin’s many messes and the FCC seems to be functioning better than it has in years.
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