WISPA Backs NTIA Nominee Roth; Lobbyists Eye More Potential Starks Successors
WISPA CEO David Zumwalt wrote Senate Commerce Committee leaders Friday in “strong support” of NTIA administrator nominee Arielle Roth ahead of her planned Thursday confirmation hearing (see 2503200066). Roth, who is Senate Commerce Republicans’ telecom policy director, “has demonstrated a strong commitment to enhancing U.S. economic growth and technological leadership,” Zumwalt said in a letter to panel Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “She has played a leading role in crafting policies to address spectrum demand, among other matters, which are essential to the development and innovation of the broadband marketplace.”
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Roth has also “been a stalwart champion of the U.S. taxpayer, providing critical insight and analysis for legislators and policymakers in their oversight of such programs as BEAD and the Universal Service Fund,” Zumwalt said. “Having her at the helm of NTIA would be incredibly encouraging for” BEAD’s success. WISPA hopes Roth “will bring BEAD back to the tech-neutral intent of its enabling legislation and thus remove those elements that would lead to wasteful overbuilding and keep small providers out of the program,” he said. The group “believes such modification could be achieved by allowing all technologies that can fully meet the technical standards into the program, giving states a greater chance of getting all communities connected quickly and cost-effectively.”
Meanwhile, communications industry lobbyists are identifying additional potential contenders to succeed retiring Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks (see 2503180067). Lobbyists noted conversations about House Communications Subcommittee Chief Minority Counsel Parul Desai and Asad Ramzanali, former White House Office of Science and Technology Policy deputy director-strategy, as potential contenders for Starks’ seat.