Obama Transition Official Tapped For FCC Broadband Program

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has tapped Blair Levin, a former FCC official and member of President Barack Obama's transition team, for a new position running the FCC's Internet broadband program.

Levin, who was chief of staff under former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, will oversee the agency's effort to craft a plan to blanket the country with high-speed Internet access. Levin is a well-known telecom analyst with Stifel Nicolaus.

Levin also is close to Julius Genachowski, Obama's nominee for FCC Chairman. On Obama's transition team, Levin and Genachowski helped shape the Internet grant program that was passed as part of a massive economic stimulus bill. The two men also worked together at the FCC under Hundt, who was appointed FCC chairman by President Bill Clinton.

Levin will assume his new job as the FCC combs through thousands of comments submitted by the telecom industry, Internet advocates, and state and local governments about how the national Internet plan should look.

The telecom industry is bracing for more regulation from the FCC when Genachowski assumes the chairmanship. Obama has been vocal in his support for open Internet rules, sometimes called "net neutrality."

Other members of the administration also have expressed interest in government-funded projects to build rural communications networks that connect to major Internet arteries. Those networks could come with regulations governing pricing and access.

Telecom giants like AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), along with industry groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, are warning that the burgeoning market of Internet-based products could be stifled if the government wields too heavy a regulatory hand.

Right now, the FCC is being run on an interim basis by Commissioner Michael Copps, also an advocate of net neutrality.

Genachowski's FCC nomination has been on hold for months as Senate Republicans debated who should hold the two Republican slots on the independent commission. That roadblock was more or less eliminated this week when lawmakers agreed on two Republican nominees - Robert McDowell, who is currently the FCC's only Republican, and Meredith Attwell Baker, a former Commerce Department official under President George W. Bush.

People familiar with the congressional timetable say Genachowski could be confirmed this month, along with McDowell. Baker and Mignon Clyburn, Obama's pick for a Democratic FCC slot, are likely to follow soon thereafter.