WASHINGTON – President Obama nominated Tom Wheeler, an investor in telecommunications start-ups who a decade or more ago served as the chief lobbyist for two industry trade groups, as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, as expected.
Mr. Obama also appointed Mignon Clyburn, a, F.C.C. commissioner since 2009, as interim chairwoman of the agency. The five-member commission will have two vacancies after the planned departures of Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert M. McDowell. Mr. Wheeler, 67, would fill one of those positions if confirmed by the Senate.
“For more than 30 years, Tom’s been at the forefront of some of the very dramatic changes that we’ve seen in the ways we communicate and how we live our lives,” Mr. Obama said in a ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House. “Tom knows this stuff inside and out.”
Although Mr. Wheeler’s time as an industry lobbyist ended in 2004, consumer groups have expressed caution, if not dismay, over whether the new chairman will work to promote the public interest in setting his agenda for regulation of wireless phone companies, broadband Internet service and other emerging technologies.
Industry groups, as might be expected, expressed approval of the choice of Mr. Wheeler. “He has the proven ability to transcend a broad range of industry perspectives to reach balanced outcomes,” Grant Seiffert, president of the Telecommunications Industry Association, said in a statement.
Others, like the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said that Mr. Wheeler’s background representing the wireless and cable television industries “when they were the newest disruptive innovators” made him a good choice.
“A frequent impediment to U.S. innovation is that incumbents too often protect their legacy business models rather than allowing the market to evolve in ways that help consumers,” said Ed Black, president of the C.C.I.A. “Wheeler’s career backing start-ups and promoting disruptive innovators in the wireless and cable industries is an important perspective to have in a chairman.”
Although the appointment as interim chairwoman of Ms. Clyburn, an African-American woman, was viewed as a milestone of sorts, many interest groups were hoping for the nomination of a woman as the full-time occupant of the top spot. In its 100 years, the F.C.C. has had only chairmen, never a chairwoman.
“Telecommunications policy affects everyone — not just men,” said Robin Morgan, a co-founder of the Women’s Media Center, which has campaigned to promote women’s ownership of telecommunications companies.
Less than 7 percent of all radio and television broadcast licenses are held by companies owned by women. “It’s disheartening to see the cycle of male chairs continuing,” Ms. Morgan said.
In addition to Ms. Clyburn, two other women were viewed as viable candidates for the chairman’s post: Jessica Rosenwercel, who also is an F.C.C. commissioner, and Karen Kornbluh, who served as Mr. Obama’s ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Mr. Wheeler is a managing director at Core Capital Partners, a Washington investment firm with $350 million under management. He has helped to oversee the firm’s investments in an array of start-ups and small- to midsize technology companies, including GoMobo, Twisted Pair Solutions and Jacked. He also is a member of the board of EarthLink, an Internet service provider that competes aggressively with Verizon and ATT.
From 1992 to 2004, Mr. Wheeler was chief executive of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, the wireless industry group now known as CTIA-The Wireless Association. Mr. Wheeler’s wife, Carol, formerly worked in government affairs for the National Association of Broadcasters.
In columns on his Web site, www.mobilemusings.net, Mr. Wheeler has expressed strong opinions about some of the issues that he would address at the F.C.C.
He has supported the voluntary incentive auctions that the F.C.C. has been planning. The agency is seeking to reclaim airwaves from television broadcasters and sell them to wireless phone companies for use in mobile broadband services.
“Given that one of the most important challenges facing the F.C.C. will be assuring a successful television spectrum incentive auction, Wheeler’s breadth of experience makes him especially well-suited to lead the F.C.C. at this time,” said Mr. Seiffert, of the Telecommunications Industry Association.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/business/tom-wheeler-telecom-investor-is-fcc-nominee.html?partner=rss&emc=rss