What Are Telecom’s Priorities?

As we prepare to enter a new year — possibly one of the most uncertain years in recent memory, economically and politically speaking — the incoming presidential administration is mulling is the appointment of a national chief technology officer as a new addition to the cabinet. (On a SUPERCOMM-related note, here’s hoping that appointment is made swiftly and the appointee accepts our invitation to deliver a keynote address at SUPERCOMM 2009.)

A number of Web sites and blogs are both handicapping the chances of various technology luminaries at garnering that CTO position and polling audiences about what the national CTO’s top priorities should be once he or she takes the post. And since the broadband communications industry sits at the heart of the matters that will most likely be addressed by this new appointee, I thought it appropriate to poll this audience on what you think are the most important issues the nation’s first technology chief should tackle (and how).

So here’s your chance: Either by posting a comment here or sending me an e-mail at jmeyers@supercommshow.com, let me know your thoughts on how the telecom industry’s issues — whether it’s net neutrality, privacy issues, spectrum auctions and availability or any other communications issue — and future should fit into the national CTO’s agenda — or if they should at all. And while you’re at it, if you have some intelligence (or maybe just a hunch) about who the appointee might be and want to share that, please do.

Thanks for your feedback and happy new year.

Jason Meyers is director of conferences for SUPERCOMM. He has 15 years of business-to-business media experience, most recently as managing director of Penton Custom Media, where he was responsible for overseeing content development, research operations and global content licensing for Penton Media brands across a wide range of industry sectors. Prior to joining Penton’s custom media group, he was director of content development for Penton's Telephony magazine. Meyers was editor-in-chief of Telephony and Wireless Review from 1999 to 2006. He joined the staff of Telephony in 1993 as an assistant editor and covered all aspects of the telecom industry in a variety of editorial positions.