US: AT&T to FCC: Leave competition policy to DOJ, FTC

AT&T’s senior executive vice president-external and legislative affairs Jim Cicconi slammed the US’s Federal Communications Commission as a regulatory body that is outdated and still functioning as if it were in the era when wireline voice was a monopoly and the Internet had yet to exist, remarks that warned the watchdog to change its ways or face irrelevancy.

Cicconi, who is responsible for AT&T’s public policy, according to AT&T’s website, made the remarks at a Media Institute luncheon held in Washington, D.C.

The FCC, said Cicconi in his speech, “is a wired, analog agency operating in a wireless, IP world.” Reports say the remarks were made as a preparation for the FCC’s incoming chairman Tom Wheeler; Cicconi said it would be Wheeler’s chance to overhaul the FCC’s shortcomings.

Among the advice was the suggestion that the FCC leave competition policy enforcement to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission; Cicconi accused the FCC of hand-picking winners and losers of the telecommunications market “under the cover” of its competition enforcement policy.

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