FCC Chief Concedes Slow Pace

Key parts of the Obama Administration's technology agenda are stalled at the Federal Communications Commission, but its chairman said that he's impatient to move them forward soon.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recently postponed action on his net neutrality proposal until after the November elections, saying both sides need more time to comment on a few issues. The FCC won't finish a congressionally mandated review of media ownership rules this year. And an inquiry into the early termination fees paid by consumers who break cellphone contracts has yet to yield results. In addition, despite twice-weekly staff meetings on Comcast Corp.'s proposal to acquire control of NBC Universal from General Electric Co., the FCC may not finish that review until February, agency officials say. The Justice Department is also reviewing the deal, but it's expected to announce a decision by the end of the year.

"We don't have a chairman making bad decisions. We just have a chairman that doesn't make decisions," said Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative, who was a member of the Obama campaign's tech advisory group.

Big telecommunications companies, which largely oppose more FCC regulation, aren't happy with Chairman Genachowski either. Verizon Communications Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg publicly criticized the FCC in June, saying Genachowski's proposals for regulating Internet lines "will cause uncertainty in the marketplace, create disincentives for investment and make one of the true success stories of the American economy less competitive."