Out of the DTV Hot Seat, Baker is Proud of NTIA Tenure

Former Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce Meredith Atwell Baker doesn't mind being unemployed. After spending much of 2008 as the public face of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's coupon program for digital television converter boxes, she expresses few regrets about her time at NTIA. Even at CTIA, then considered on the cutting-edge, the association's Internet access came from dial-up America Online service, Baker recalled. And discussions of broadband elicited snickers and drawings of "girls playing instruments," she said. But when Baker moved to NTIA five years ago, there was an open question before her: "How can we incentivize companies to build these fat pipes?" The answer was in facilities-based competition, she said. The conservative Bush administration believed the role of government in technology was to "set the environment and incentivize new technology, to level the playing field," and to deregulate, Baker said. And while Baker was proud of her success at "clearing out the regulatory underbrush," she wished broadband had been a higher profile issue at NTIA. Policies in place allowed broadband subscribership to grow from less than 5 million to over 100 million users, she said. NTIA's efforts led to more transparent and efficient use of spectrum by government and industry, Baker said. "I think we got a lot of things right," she said. And the next administration should "keep at it: there's a lot more to do."