[January 24, 2005]

Powell: A Look at His Tenure in the FCC

BY JOHANNE TORRES

Michael Powell made official his resignation on Friday from his post as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in a letter directed to President George W. Bush. Powell served as the FCC’s Chairman for four consecutive years. In his letter, Powell expressed his gratitude to the President by thanking him for the “incredible privilege of chairing the Federal Communications Commission during his first term.” He also informed the President that his planned resignation will be taking effect sometime this March.

“During my tenure, we worked to get the law right in order to stimulate innovative technology that puts more power in the hands of the American people, giving them greater choices that enrich their lives. Evidence of our success can be seen increasingly in the offices, the automobiles and the living rooms of the American consumer,” wrote Powell in his official statement. As Chairman for the FCC, Powell fought hard to allow new technologies to grow, making way for nationwide adoption of innovative advancements that revolutionized and will continue to modernize the way we communicate.

Among Powell’s accomplishments, the FCC Chairman pushed the promotion of the adoption of cable and DSL broadband. In March 2002, the Chairman declared cable modem an “information service” to keep it in a minimally regulated environment and later avert infliction of telephone regulation last December. The Chairman also gave a green light to the development of increased WiFi availability by leading the Commission to modify rules allowing wider commercial deployment of the technology by making more spectrum available at 5 GHz for last mile unlicensed use, with the NTIA ultimately freeing up over 290 MHz of spectrum for new, licensed broadband uses. As part of his broadband development, Powell also gave thumbs up to broadband over power lines last October.

Most importantly, Powell certainly cleared regulatory barriers to new telecommunication services such as Voice over IP (VoIP), when the technology won its first battle against certain state-by-state taxing penalties in the U.S. Under Powell’s term, the FCC ruled in favor of VoIP providers, exempting the companies from most taxes and regulations at state-level last November. This action resulted in the acquittal of appeal proceedings initiated by individual state PUCs, such as Minnesota’s—which rebutted a Federal Court Judge’s decision to exonerate VoIP services from most taxes and regulations at state-level.

Under Powell, the Commission also tackled the issue of accelerating E911 contingency services not only for wireless phones, but also for VoIP-enabled devices. To accomplish this, the Commission put all wireless carriers on compliance schedules and created an E911 co-ordination initiative, as well as an E911 Solutions Summit for VoIP last March.

On his departure, Powell wrote: “My only significant regret is that I will no longer have the pleasure and privilege of working shoulder to shoulder with the most talented and dedicated staff and colleagues that I have known. I look forward to spending some time off with my wife and two boys, before taking up my next challenge. They have been wonderfully supportive and patient.”

Overall, Powell’s tenure has been shaped not only by a lot of work, but also by a great deal of controversy. The Chairman handled everything from the development of new telecommunication technologies, to live television indecency control— certainly, a wild ride for Powell. I will keep you posted on new developments on this story, including the reveal of Powell’s replacement as more information becomes available.