Marshall Phelps, ex-IBM, named corp. vp & deputy gen. counsel-intellectual property, Microsoft… Lauren Monks promoted to dir.-national accounts mktg., Discovery Networks… Changes at Commerce Dept.’s Technology Administration: Cary Gravatt, Manufacturing Competitiveness Office, moves to acting dir., Office of Space Commercialization… New board members at Intelsat: Carlos Adamo, Merchant Bankers Asociados S.A.; Fabiola Arredondo, FRA Holdings; William Boardman, Bank One; Didier Delephine, Equant N.V.; Boon Hwee Koh, Singapore Airlines; Ken Miller, Ken Miller Capital.
President Bush signed an executive memorandum Thurs. that created a task force to recommend how to stimulate more efficient spectrum use by govt. users. NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory said the initiative would complement govt. efforts such as the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force with a single interagency group directed to examine how ideas such as receiver standards and secondary markets could apply to govt. users.
Promoted at AT&T Govt. Solutions: Paul McQuillan to vp- federal sales, Robert Terwilliger to vp-sales operations, Isaiah Cole to vp-National Information Systems & Homeland Security… Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R) appointed Comr. Ric Campbell as Utah PSC chmn., succeeding retiring Chmn. Stephen Meacham and state Commerce Dept. Dir. Ted Boyer to PSC seat Meacham will vacate in July… Kiera Hynninen, ex-Weather Channel, named senior vp-mktg., National Geographic Channel… Carolyn Lewis, Ohio U. Telecom Center, elected chmn., Higher Education Telecom Consortium… Adam Shaw, ex- FX, named vp-distribution, NFL Network… Erwin Leichtle, ex- Ericsson, appointed pres.-COO, interWAVE… Vernon Irvin, ex- American Management Systems, named exec. vp-telecom services, VeriSign.
House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) outlined plans Wed. for a bill that would create a “major” block grant program for Enhanced 911 funding for public safety agencies, but would condition the money on states’ not “raiding” 911 funds. At a hearing, he said the “comprehensive” bill also would create a national E911 program office in an existing agency such as the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) or NTIA. Upton expressed optimism after the hearing that a bill could move before the Aug. recess: “It’s ambitious. We don’t have a lot of weeks left. But it is important to everybody.”
Senate Commerce Committee members will have an opportunity to vote on the 35% broadcast ownership cap, despite the fact that Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) is likely to vote against it, he promised at a committee hearing Wed. that examined the FCC’s media ownership proceeding. McCain said he would let the committee consider a bill that would codify a 35% ownership cap, but he didn’t support the proposal. The bill (S-1046), by Senate Appropriations Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) with considerable Republican support, will be on the agenda of the June 19 committee executive session. While McCain said he wouldn’t vote for a 35% cap, he said there should be some form of cap, but the difficulty was finding the right balance: “I am not sure that even an expert agency can predict with precision where the lines should be drawn.”
House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) said Tues. he didn’t believe the House would approve legislation to reverse or weaken the FCC’s new media ownership rules. While he acknowledged there was bipartisan support in the Senate that could lead to some legislative action to undo the FCC’s ruling, he said he didn’t sense the same level of support in the House.
Michael Gallagher, new deputy chief of staff for policy and counselor to Commerce Secy. Donald Evans, said the scope of his new job would involve communications issues as well as other policy areas under the department’s purview, ranging from the U.S. Census Bureau and international trade to NOAA and NTIA. Gallagher had served for 18 months as NTIA deputy dir. before recently moving to the job on the 5th floor at the Commerce Dept. He told us last week his new position involved “integrating and making sure that we have successful coordination with the White House” on the issues in his portfolio. Gallagher said his policy areas now would include a broader slate than at NTIA, including everything from environmental issues such as water policy in the Northwest to weather prediction issues at NOAA. “I will continue to keep a watchful eye and a steady interest in telecommunications and spectrum issues. That’s because those are the issues that brought me to Washington, D.C., and that I spent so much time on over the last 18 months,” he said. Before joining NTIA, Gallagher had been vp-state public policy at Verizon Wireless and earlier as an aide to then-Rep. Rick White (R- Wash.). “A number of those issues are continuing in nature,” he said, citing ultra-wideband, 3G spectrum, 5 GHz bands for radio local access networks and the ENUM numbering protocol: “They are all in stages of development. None of them are completely finished.” Asked about the NTIA reorganization that Evans proposed in Feb., Gallagher said work on that plan was continuing. “I am looking forward to assisting from the position that I hold now,” he said. The plan would merge NTIA, the Technology Administration and the e-commerce duties of the International Trade Administration into a single agency. NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory would remain as asst. secy. for communications & information but would report to TA Undersecy. Phil Bond, formerly Evans’s chief of staff, instead of to Evans, as she does now (CD Feb 14 p1). “I believe I have a significant amount to add to the process or to the structure of the combined entities,” Gallagher said, noting his role at NTIA essentially had been that of a chief operating officer, giving him in-depth knowledge of how the agency worked. “The combined enterprise will be larger than the sum of its parts in effectiveness,” he said.
The Senate is likely to address the broadcast ownership cap, although it remains unclear whether there is enough support to reverse the FCC’s decision Mon. to ease ownership rules, congressional leaders said after the FCC meeting. Senate Commerce Committee ranking Democrat Hollings (S.C.) said he believed Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) would let the committee vote on legislation (S-1046) that would preserve the 35% cap, even though there were indications that McCain himself didn’t support retaining the cap. “I'm convinced we can get a majority vote” in the Commerce Committee, said Hollings, who informally surveyed the panel’s members. The FCC commissioners will appear before the committee Wed. to answer questions about the media ownership ruling.
The CWA and consumer and ethnic groups urged the General Services Administration (GSA) Fri. to take the lead at the federal level and bar MCI/WorldCom from doing business with the federal govt. The organizations, including the CWA, Gray Panthers, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Consumer League and the National Native American Chamber of Commerce, wrote to GSA Administrator Stephen Perry saying: “We have learned that MCI/WorldCom’s overstatement of earnings has risen from $8 [billion] to $11 billion, that the scandal has wiped out over $4 billion in pension fund value across the country and that MCI/WorldCom paid federal taxes on their overstated earnings to perpetuate its fraudulent activity-receiving to date over $300 million in tax refunds.” The groups said recent actions by state attorneys gen. in Ala., Ia., Okla. and W.Va. were a precursor to their filing, and convictions in state court automatically would bar MCI/WorldCom from holding federal contracts. The letter urged the GSA to investigate the Dept. of Defense contract with the company to build a mobile telephone network in Iraq to “better understand what type of vetting process was undertaken to award this contract, and why MCI/WorldCom was selected as the provider of mobile telephone service in Baghdad when they do not provide the service at all in the United States?” CWA Pres. Morton Bahr said “we risk allowing the current crisis of corporate confidence to become a crisis of government confidence” if the govt. continues to negotiate new contracts with MCI/WorldCom. He said the debarment would “not bring about the loss of additional jobs” in the telecom industry, but “may in fact save jobs.” In a separate letter to Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Sen. Collins (R-Me.), Bahr supported her decision to investigate the awarding of contracts to MCI/WorldCom as “not in the public interest.” He said there were several other companies, “all of whom acted lawfully, that can provide these services.”
The Bush Administration is circulating draft legislation that would give the FCC new authority to charge fees for unauctioned spectrum licenses and construction permits as well as permanent authority to conduct auctions. The proposal is similar to one proposed in the President’s 2004 budget proposal, but not enacted. The proposal is also in line with the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force report recommendations.