In with the new, out with the old. It won’t be long before current FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will leave his post, to be replaced by Julius Genachowski, who is said to be the choice of President-elect Barack Obama. This, of course, has implications for the AWS-3 spectrum, which has been a prominent issue lately. The outgoing chair’s plans involved auctioning off the spectrum with the intention of providing free nationwide broadband access — even if porn sites couldn’t be blocked. According to early speculation, though, Genachowski is a friend to broadband.
Yet favoring broadband doesn’t mean that Genachowski will feel the same way as Martin about the current situation. There are a number of plans for nationwide broadband, so the one currently under consideration isn’t the be all, end all solution.
It’s tough to predict what will happen between now and when Genachowski deposes Martin. The hope is that he makes broadband a high priority for the administration and Commission.
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