Little Powell, the outgoing new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission heavy task

Michael Powell (MichaelPow-ell), the son of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Colin Powell, following his father's resignation as secretary of state, is also about to leave the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Today (9) held the FCC meeting is likely to be the last appearance of Powell as chairman of the committee. A series of problems, such as the merger and acquisition of large telecommunications, the protection of new network technologies, and the protection of federal funds for rural areas have been left to the successor to be announced in the near future.

JessicaZufolo, an analyst at MedleyGlobalAdvisors, a global consulting firm, points out that the next president of FCC will need to address issues that could have a significant impact on the communications industry. Final criticism

In the final months of the Powell presidency, the United States eight telecommunications companies in six announced a merger transaction, such as December 15, 2004, sprint (Sprint) and nyks Thailand (Nextel) combined with successful birth of American market third major telecom operators Sprint/Nextel; January 31st, southwest of Baer (SBC) announced a $16 billion acquisition of Att Corporation (AT&T) SBC, from the area of telecom operators has become the National Telecom operators......

The large-scale mergers and acquisitions within a short period of time the menacing caused some members of Congress that they accused Powell contributed to the telecommunications industry crazy mergers and acquisitions, contrary to the Congress in 1996 requires telecom industry changes to the communication intention. In any case, the next chairman of the FCC to ensure that such a large-scale merger will not lead to a monopoly crisis, or lead to price increases. Who is the new president?

Kevin Martin, who served as the FCC Commissioner for four years (KevinMartin), is widely regarded as the chief candidate, and his nomination does not require confirmation by the senate. Four years ago, Bush was nominated by the then FCC commissioner as chairman of the board of directors of Powell, thus avoiding the debate of the election process. Despite his preference for free market theory, Mr Martin has been at odds with Mr Powell on a number of key issues and has repeatedly demanded more rules.

The other three close ties with Bush candidates include: Bush served as governor of Texas, the old men Rebecca Klein (Re-beccaKlein) and Pat Wood (PatWood), and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce and information communication technology (MichaelGallagher) the White House adviser Michael Gallego. Another possible candidate is the former Senate assistant, communications expert Earl Comstock (EarlComstock). FCC new problem

At the same time, FCC is also facing great pressure to punish the violation of the rules of decency broadcast company. In February this year, the U.S. House of representatives to restore the appropriate rules, increased fines for violations.

The "rules of decency" act includes a radio program that does not show a clear meaning or dirty language between 6 a.m. and at night at about 10 p.m.. Once the media, FCC will consider lifting its business license. In addition, some Republicans also want to promote the current rules of decency to cable and satellite tv.

Powell, however, has never appreciated the role of public scrutiny, and he said last week that it would not be a good idea to extend the rules to pay tv. The top candidate, Martin, did not comment on the proposed rules.

FCC headache in addition to whether to promote the appropriate rules, but also including the whole service fund (UniversalServiceFund) reform. The design of the original intention of the fund is to ensure that all Americans can afford telecommunications services, but with the emergence of new technologies, such as the comprehensive transformation of telecom industry network video telephone, collection of funds is the collapse mechanism.

Nevertheless, the reform of this fund is very difficult, the first is the definition of the small / large telecommunications companies, rural / non rural operators has become very difficult, followed by the Internet phone company, new cable operators and wireless operators involved, the situation becomes more complex.

FCC's goal is to reform all companies to pay a certain share of the fund, but it is difficult to reach an agreement between Congress, regulators and telecommunications companies. (Zhou Yang compilation)