FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will step down on January 20, 2017.
“Serving as F.C.C. Chairman during this period of historic technological change has been the greatest honor of my professional life. I am deeply grateful to the President for giving me this opportunity. I am especially thankful to the talented Commission staff for their service and sacrifice during my tenure. Their achievements have contributed to a thriving communications sector, where robust investment and world-leading innovation continue to drive our economy and meaningful improvements in the lives of the American people. It has been a privilege to work with my fellow Commissioners to help protect consumers, strengthen public safety and cybersecurity, and ensure fast, fair and open networks for all Americans.”
- Tom Wheeler previously served as Managing Director of Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. Earlier in his career, he served as President of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) from 1979 to 1984, and later as CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) until 2004.
FCC Chairman Calls for New Net Neutrality Rules
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced plans to introduce new Net Neutrality rules saying his intent is to “preserved the Internet as an open platform for innovation and expression while providing certainty and predictability in the marketplace.” The announcement comes a month after the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the FCC overstepped its boundaries in setting Net Neutrality rules that compel broadband providers to…
FCC Eyes Residential Fiber Build-out as Condition for AT&T/DirecTV Deal
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has circulated a draft recommendation to his fellow FCC commissioners recommending that the AT&T/DirecTV transaction be approved with conditions concerning future fiber rollouts by AT&T. Namely, Wheeler would like 12.5 million customer locations to have access to a competitive high-speed fiber connection — an additional build-out that is about 10 times the size of AT&T’s current fiber-to-the-premise deployment….
FCC Chairman Seeks to Extend Title II Authority to Wireless Too
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler confirmed that he circulating a proposal this week with his fellow commissioners that would implement and enforce open Internet protections using Title II authority. In a column published by Wired.com, Wheeler describes his proposal as “the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC.” Specifically, Wheeler seeks enforceable, bright-line rules to ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and…
