Powell to Leave Legacy of Deregulation at FCC

The unrepentant, hands-off views on broadband of outgoing FCC Chairman Michael Powell have set in motion a high-stakes battle over the future of the U.S. telecommunications industry that will continue long after his departure. Powell, appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission by President Bush in January 2001, leaves behind a booming, substantially deregulated marketplace that has embraced high-speed Internet connections, wireless and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in ways that were nearly unimaginable in the 1990s.