Outgoing FCC Chairman Draws Widespread Praise

One government official noted that when a commissioner leaves there is a “winding down” process that has to unfold. Commissioners have to submit to security clearance debriefings, address federal record retention requirements and meet with members of Congress who want to hold last meetings with the departing commissioner. “You just can’t announce on Friday and walk out the door on Monday,” one official said.

Genachowski did not offer a more concrete timeline for when he will depart, though officials say they expect him to stay through the April 18 commission meeting. “I'm not going anywhere tomorrow,” he said in a brief interview Friday. “I'll keep focusing with my colleagues on the agenda of the commission. I expect to see continuity at the agency and the work of the commission continue. ... A smooth transition is important and that’s my goal.”

"Over the past four years, we've focused the FCC on broadband, wired and wireless, working to drive economic growth and improve the lives of all Americans,” Genachowski said in remarks to staff, which were streamed on the Internet. “And thanks to you, the commission’s employees, we've taken big steps to build a future where broadband is ubiquitous and bandwidth is abundant, where innovation and investment are flourishing."

Genachowski highlighted among his main accomplishments the commission’s work on the first incentive auction, which could take place as early as next year. “In mobile, the U.S. has gone from laggard to leader,” he said. “We're leading the world in deploying the next generation of mobile broadband at scale with as many 4G subscribers in the U.S. as the rest of the world combined.” Genachowski’s office released a document elaborating on his achievements as chairman (http://fcc.us/Z7CBfi).

Genachowski and Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell, who also announced last week he was departing, had discussed the timing of their respective departures, agency officials said.

CEA President Gary Shapiro recalled in a statement Friday that he had dubbed Genachowski the “Spectrum Chairman” in remarks at the last CES. “Consumers and industry alike will benefit for years to come thanks to Genachowski’s service at the FCC,” Shapiro said. Julie Kearney, CEA vice president-regulatory affairs, in the same statement praised Genachowski as “a visionary leader, an adept regulator, and a true friend to the innovation society.” Genachowski “leaves an indelible and positive mark on the communications landscape,” she said.

Former FCC Chairman William Kennard, currently U.S. ambassador to the European Union, said in an interview that Genachowski’s work on broadband was important from an international perspective. “I think an important legacy that Julius leaves is really a global one,” Kennard said. “He’s clearly solidified America’s leadership in broadband deployment. It’s really compelling. Just a few years ago there was a lot of criticism about the U.S. lagging the world in broadband deployment, but he really silenced those critics. He did so early on with the National Broadband Plan, which really is the envy of policymakers around the world. I'm posted here in Europe and I get requests for that document from regulators all over Europe. It’s the blueprint that everyone wants to follow.”

Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld expressed some disappointment with the outgoing chairman. “It is extremely easy to let the disappointment and bitterness over the high hopes I (and others) had back when Genachowski started in 2009 color his sins (whether of commission or omission) blacker than they should be,” Feld said in a blog post (http://bit.ly/Y42CNw). “By the same token, it is easy to allow the lowered expectations we all had after 2010 to make his accomplishments seem better than they where.” Feld said the message to the White House should be: “Send us no scholar. Send us no visionary to lead us into the promised land of gigabit broadband, nor an ideologue wedded to a philosophy. Send us no seekers of grand bargains or painful compromises. Instead, send us someone who likes to get their hands dirty."

Tech Freedom President Berin Szoka also was critical. “Genachowski’s legacy could have been progress on a range of issues where broad consensus exists, like eliminating the regulatory barriers that slow down broadband deployment,” he said. “He succeeded on a few issues, like reforming the bloated high-cost portion of the Universal Service Fund. But he failed to deliver on the greatest opportunities, if only by failing to prioritize non-ideological reforms that, together, could have made a big difference.” Genachowski “wasted two years and limited staff resources hunting down the great white whale of Net Neutrality. His attempted compromise contorted the FCC’s legal authority well beyond what Congress intended,” Szoka said.

David Honig, president of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, told us what Genachowski may still accomplish depends on how long he remains. “A month ago, the commission deferred a vote on the 2010 media ownership quadrennial report and order until it receives and considers the study we're performing on whether crossownership adversely impacts minority ownership,” Honig said. “That study is under way and on schedule. It should be finished and in the commission’s hands late in April. If the commission contemplates relying on the study for its decision, it would presumably need to put the study out for a round of public comment, although I doubt such a comment round would be lengthy since it would be limited to this one study. Thus I don’t know whether the chairman will still be at the commission when the quadrennial is ready for a vote."

"What he can do is, of course, defined by how long he plans to stay,” said communications lawyer Andrew Schwartzman. “I would imagine that he would like to finish off Sprint/Clearwire. ... He might try to move broadcast ownership, given how hard he has tried to move it along. He could appeal to the two other Democrats that this is one of his legacy items, but I doubt they would accommodate him."

It’s still possible for Genachowski to make progress on major initiatives in the weeks or months he has remaining, a former FCC official told us. “You have to look at the things that are mature -- that is to say, the comments are all in, and the staff has had a little time to digest them, and there maybe some motivation to get them done as part of his legacy,” the official said. All the comments for Phase II of the Mobility Fund have been in since early January, she said, and if the commission doesn’t get the Phase II auction done by sometime next year, it will have to delay the phase down of identical support. “It would not be a good thing, momentum-wise, to stop a phase down, and say, ‘We couldn’t get the rules done in time.'” The official expects there is a “good deal of pressure” on the staff to get that done, which would be “another tick in the legacy column.” Similarly, Congress is “quite interested” in getting the next round of Connect America Fund Phase I money out, she said.

"Julius has been a huge force for innovation,” said Mark Gorenberg, managing director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. “From his public comments, I do expect that he will continue to move the ball forward on both incentive auctions and also on the 3.5 GHz NPRM for federal spectrum sharing while he is there.”

Much like McDowell, Genachowski was hailed by a wide group of associations and companies for spearheading the USF reforms that, for the first time, dedicated money to support broadband deployment throughout the U.S. NCTA president and former FCC Chairman Michael Powell commended Genachowski for promoting investment in broadband networks; the American Cable Association said it appreciated the chairman’s sensitivity to the effect of “disproportionate regulatory burdens” on smaller cable operators. Verizon and AT&T cited Genachowski’s role in modernizing intercarrier compensation policies, and in addressing the demand for wireless spectrum. NARUC Telecommunications Chair John Burke pointed to Genachowski’s efforts to hold VoIP providers to the same outage standards as traditional telcos.

Genachowski was smart, and was surrounded by a quality team, but “never seemed to get ahead of the political dynamics orchestrated by the industries he regulated,” a telecom attorney told us. The FCC’s accomplishments on his watch were “well-executed but only incremental,” with “very little that was visionary or transformative,” said the attorney, who doesn’t expect Genachowski to take on any big issues in his remaining time “unless he absolutely has to” -- such as forbearance petitions with statutory deadlines that can’t be extended.

A former FCC official said Genachowski’s timing was good in leaving the agency now. “Just around the corner are huge, defining things, which could take his legacy down,” the lawyer said. He listed the possibility the FCC’s open Internet rules will be overturned in court, a contentious decision on media ownership rules and tough decisions that remain on the incentive auction.

President Barack Obama released a statement. “Over the last four years, Julius has brought to the Federal Communications Commission a clear focus on spurring innovation, helping our businesses compete in a global economy and helping our country attract the industries and jobs of tomorrow,” he said (http://1.usa.gov/ZSqlyn)

Former Commissioner Michael Copps bid goodbye to McDowell and Genachowski. “Now we anticipate a significantly new FCC,” he said in a statement. “I hope the President will nominate individuals dedicated to the furtherance of the public interest, who see the Commission as a consumer protection agency, and who will bring to the fore media issues that have been allowed to drift for the better part of a generation. Candidate Obama spoke about slowing the mad rush to media consolidation, reasserting the public interest in FCC oversight, and building a media ecosystem reflecting the great diversity of America. I look forward to nominees who will work toward these goals."

"Although occasionally we disagreed, sometimes profoundly, he leaves office with my utmost respect,” McDowell said of Genachowski (http://fcc.us/YwKdp0). “Having spent a number of hours with the Chairman for nearly four years, I am keenly aware of his devotion to strategic and sensible regulation,” said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (http://fcc.us/Z8ysYt). “He is pragmatic, driven, and pushes companies and their executives to do better -- and try harder -- in the quest for the optimal consumer user experience with technology of all forms."

"I certainly didn’t always agree with Chairman Genachowski, but I respect his dedication to the job and his public service,” said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. “I think his leadership in reforming the broken USF system has been very important, and I appreciate it. And his efforts to begin processes to get more spectrum available through spectrum auctions have been commendable as well."

Genachowski’s legacy will be defined not by any individual policies he championed, but by his fundamental reshifting of the regulatory conversation from telecom to broadband, said Medley Global analyst Jeffrey Silva. Given that doing so invited policy and political disruption and therefore criticism, this was no easy task, Silva said. “Whatever strengths and shortcomings one might ascribe to him in his role as FCC chairman the past four years, it is hard to deny that Genachowski was a trailblazer on making broadband the primary driver of telecom policy going forward,” he said. Because of Genachowski’s leadership, his successor “will not have to start from square one,” but rather can “build on the regulatory foundation he has built.” “He started with a more ambitious agenda than the politics allowed him to pursue,” said attorney Colleen Boothby of Levine Blaszak. “But he succeeded in returning the FCC to a more data-driven, analytical decision process, after it had drifted into ideologically-driven wishful thinking."

"Chairman Genachowski’s tenure reflects a deep understanding of the technology industry and emerging broadband economy, which are both thriving,” said Glenn Hutchins, co-founder of Silver Lake, a leading investor in the global tech sector. “From his initiatives to expand broadband access to innovations in voluntary spectrum auctions, his policies have helped to reinforce one of the most dynamic components of the U.S. economy.”