Former FCC Chief Offers Advice For Successor
My colleague Winter Casey spoke with former FCC chief Kevin Martin recently about what advice he would offer his successor at the agency and the key issues he anticipates the commission will be tackling in 2009. The Q&A was published on NationalJournal.com's Lost In Transition blog. Some highlights:
Q: What advice would you like to give to whoever takes over as FCC commissioner
Martin: I would tell them that they should make sure and look hard at the facts and the underlying arguments that are being made and -- while they will have whatever ideology they bring to the issues -- they should be prepared to actually examine the underlying facts and have it be more of a fact-based decision-making process as opposed to just an ideological one.
Q: Is there anything in the telecom realm that needs to be changed that you think could move forward with bipartisan support this year?
Martin: I think that we need to make changes to our universal service mechanism to make sure that we move it from a voice-grade connections to broadband connections. We should make some more progress on cable rates -- cable rates have doubled over the last decade and I think consumers need relief in terms of additional choices and additional competition. And I think there needs to be a continued emphasis on how we make sure the regulatory environment provides an opportunity and incentive for people to invest in the infrastructure and at the same time maintain an open platform to any kinds of application or devices on the edge.
Read the rest of the Q&A here.
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