Tom Wheeler has been a controversial figure for both conservatives and liberals, largely because of the issue with Net Neutrality. However, for most of his career, the FCC chairman is known for championing causes that benefited the consumers. Come January, the tides over at the agency are about to change, with Wheeler stepping down and handing control over to the Republicans.
Wheeler is set to leave the FCC on January 20th next year, which means that the agency will have a Republican majority, the Los Angeles Times reports. This will then make it easier for the conservatives in the FCC to repeal all of the regulations that are currently preventing telecommunication companies and internet service providers from running roughshod over Net Neutrality.
"Sitting in this chair has been the greatest privilege of my professional career," Wheeler said during a meeting with FCC members. "When you put five Type A personalities together, lots of interesting things happen, including you will not always see eye to eye. The headlines got built around our differences, but the facts are that together we accomplished a lot."
Based on how anti-regulation president-elect Donald Trump has been as well as his negative view on a free internet, it’s only to be expected that Verizon, Comcast and the rest of the major corporations gunning for the abolishment of Net Neutrality to get their way. Once Wheeler is gone, Trump will most likely replace him with a Republican, thus making the transition so much easier for his party.
For a moment, however, many were wondering if Wheeler would break tradition and actually finish his five-year term as chairman of the FCC, which started in 2013, Politico reports. While it is customary that FCC chairs would bow out once a new president is elected, he could technically have stayed on. It would appear that this is not going to happen.