POWELL STRESSES NEED FOR REGULATORY RESTRAINT AT FCC

New FCC Chmn. Powell laid out broad agenda Tues., stressing need for competition, deregulation and regulatory restraint. Agency should take “judicious” rather than “quasi-legislative” role, he said in his first news conference, citing examples in which FCC’s job primarily was to implement policy. While declining to discuss specifics of priorities such as streamlining FCC procedures, he repeatedly sounded theme of allowing competitive forces in market to take hold. “I do not believe that deregulation is like the dessert that you serve after people have fed on their vegetables as a reward for the creation of competition,” he said. Deregulation is critical to facilitate competition, “not something to be handed out after there’s a substantial number of players in the market,” he said.

Asked if he saw stronger role for FCC anywhere, Powell responded: “In a nutshell, no.” He cited extent to which Commission’s agenda was response to rapid changes in industry. “You will find me to be much less quasi-legislative, that is not sitting quietly and saying here is an area that I would like to go involve myself in.” Powell described “most important” goal of FCC under his tenure as focus on operational issues, such as running “efficient, well-managed and decisive” organization. “The FCC increasingly finds itself in the midst of markets that work on Internet time,” Powell said, saying uncertainty can be greater risk for companies than particular direction that decision takes.

In wide-ranging conference that started with precision at 10:30 a.m., Powell said other priorities included ensuring that FCC had “independent capability” to assess technological challenges. Agency needs to be able to evaluate technological propositions without relying on industry for “understanding of those technological principals.” He also spoke of need to restructure FCC to better reflect convergence, although he provided few details on how that would be done. He cited regulatory issues that span multiple bureaus: “We increasingly are stretched by the fact that our statute and our regulatory structure are Balkanized, built upon technological assumptions and the underlying technologies that form them as well as the business models that were originally generated.” He said “different regulatory treatment of similarly situated infrastructures distorts the evolution of those markets.” FCC will continue to guard against “genuine consumer harm,” Powell said. But he said consumers aren’t “class that is always to be protected” but instead are participants in market competition.

When asked how well Telecom Act was working, Powell said he thought it was successful. He cited concerns raised by some on extent to which Bell companies are in long distance and long distance providers are offering local phone service. “I think it unleashed broadband,” Powell said. “I think it put in place the variables that fired up that market.” Silver lining of Telecom Act is that companies such as AT&T tapped cable infrastructure for local telephony and broadband services, he said. “There was a fearful and competitive response which is bringing DSL out of the closet,” Powell said. “DSL had been around for a long time.” Besides growth in broadband markets, that promise of competition also unleashed capital, he said.

One theme that emerged repeatedly was Powell’s interest in having FCC not overreach into creating policy in areas where elected officials had primary role. For example, he said, FCC faced challenge of dealing with TV programming content. “I get paid to write specific rules,” he said. Similarly, he didn’t offer views on wisdom of moving e-rate program to Dept. of Education. E-rate supporters have raised concerns recently that Bush Administration planned to roll school and library program into block grants for states, which they said could spell demise of program (CD Feb 6 p3). “My job is to implement it and implement it along the guidelines that are set out in the statute,” he said of program. As long as it’s under purview of Commission, Powell said, agency will continue to implement it faithfully. “Whether there’s a better way to do it, or whether children would be better served by a program that’s more flexible… that’s an issue that we elect our representatives to debate,” he said.

On pace of merger license transfers at agency, Powell said he was in favor of speeding review process, but not necessarily holding it to “prophylactic” timelines. He said he would prefer to see more certainty brought to that and other regulatory processes at agency. “I would really hope that we could increase the pace of those to the extent that we need to,” he said.

At start of conference, Powell jokingly referred to how frequently his name appeared in print as “the son of Colin Powell.” He told reporters, “I feel that as an airline pilot would, I ought to point out that if you're here for a State Dept. briefing, you're in the wrong place.” He declined to answer question on top 3 priorities of Commission in next few months or issues that he wanted to define his legacy. “I want to leave alive,” he said in response to legacy question. “I want my kids to have a father.”