Trump Adds Wi-Fi-Focused Telecom Executive to FCC Transition Team

“Founded in 1999, and a certified CLEC in 49 states, Bandwidth is disrupting the telecom industry with its customer-first focus and software development horsepower,” the company's website bio of Morken says. “Bandwidth operates both business and consumer divisions, serving corporate clients as diverse as Google and Skype, as well as consumers everywhere who want to save money on their smartphone bills.”

Morken's telecom record spans many years. He spoke during a 2013 keynote speech of aspiring to be a “giant slayer,” emphasizing the way his company used Wi-Fi and other tools. “We had provided landline internet bandwidth for years and saw everything going mobile and realized Wi-Fi was around us all the time,” Morken said during an interview posted by Republic Wireless in 2014. “It was that simple idea of ‘Isn’t Wi-Fi the primary network?’” He gave a TEDX talk in 2015 on the power of Wi-Fi, describing how FCC spectrum auctions work. “What is the 2.4 and the 5 GHz spectrum worth? $500 billion?” he said during that TED talk. “If you do the math, you get even higher than that.” He noted his emphasis on the user experience and company culture during a 2015 CED conference speech. Morken, a former Marine with a law degree from Notre Dame, has a Twitter account but rarely tweets.

His records don't show much particular political activity. He didn’t donate to any candidates, according to a search of Center for Responsive Politics records. He toldThe Wall Street Journal early this month he’s a lifelong Republican and lauded telecom competition principles that he sees at odds with GOP posture: “Traditional Republican telecom policy has favored incumbents who are heavily engaged in regulatory capture over innovators like us.”

Bandwidth.com has been active in FCC filings and in other telecom matters. Its chief operating officer was named to CTIA’s board last month. Morken will remain chair of Republic Wireless’ board amid the spinoff, the company said this month: “While I will remain actively involved in Republic as Chairman of the Board, it is with great pleasure that I hand day-to-day leadership over to my friend and co-founder Chris Chuang,” said Morken in a statement. Blair Levin, a fellow with the Brookings Institution and former senior FCC official under Democratic chairmen, called Morken a friend during a fall 2015 speech. "I first thought he was crazy but became a convert," Levin said of Morken's business planning behind Republic Wireless. "While Republic and others have launched and operated Wi-Fi based mobile competition, cable, other than a, frankly, weak effort by Cablevision, has yet to do so."

Trump hasn't revealed plans for the FCC under his administration, which begins Jan. 20. Landing team members met with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and others within the agency earlier this month (see 1612160037).

Trump’s FTC landing team also features four new members beyond R Street Institute fellow Alex Pollock, who was added in November (see 1611290040). New members are Paul Atkins, chief executive of Patomak Global Partners, a former commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Robert Barker, a lawyer in Georgia focused on mergers and acquisitions; Davis Polk associate Jeffrey Dinwoodie, part of its financial services group and formerly part of the SEC’s division of trading and markets; and Chelsea Pizzola, a fellow who worked with the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation and with past stints at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and DOJ antitrust division.