Trump names former Sprint regulatory counsel Roddy as member of FCC transition team

Carolyn Tatum Roddy, an Atlanta-based telecom attorney, has been named as the latest member of President-elect Donald Trump’s FCC transition team.

Her name appeared on Trump’s landing team page which is updated periodically with names of potential candidates for various cabinet positions.

Roddy comes to the transition team with plenty of telecom regulatory experience, working at the FCC, service providers and for various private practice law firms that specialize in communications issues.

Previously, she served as an attorney at the FCC for 12 years. During her tenure with the regulator, Roddy represented the FCC in rulemaking, licensing, tariff and enforcement proceedings related to wireline, wireless and public safety communications.

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Roddy also has service provider regulatory experience, having served in a stint as regional regulatory counsel for Sprint in the Southeast.

Additionally, Roddy served as counsel at Troutman Sanders, LLP in Atlanta and director of regulatory affairs for the Satellite Industry Association in Washington, D.C. She is a registered mediator and an adjunct professor of administrative law at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School.

Roddy becomes the fifth member of Trump’s FCC transition team. Other members of the team include David Morken, co-founder of Republic Wireless and Bandwidth, and American Enterprise Institute Fellows Jeffrey Eisenach, Mark Jamison and Roslyn Layton.

It’s clear that after Trump officially takes office the tenor of the FCC will change as the agency shifts from a Democrat to Republican majority. The new FCC will likely have a lighter regulatory touch, supporters say.

Already, current FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced he will step down immediately following the inauguration. What this means is that many of the issues Wheeler championed, like net neutrality and business data services (BDS) reform, will likely be overturned or shelved.