Chutes & Ladders: Martin confirmed as FCC chair

Kevin Martin is set to serve a full 5-year term as chairman after the Senate confirmed his tenure. Martin has been a commissioner since 2001. He succeeded chairman Michael Powell when Powell stepped down in 2005. Martin is one of the three Republican commissioners on the agency's 5-commissioner panel. Here's a quick smattering of recent Martin-related articles from our archives:

• AT&T-Bellsouth merger delay is being caused by a standoff between Democratic commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, who have concerns about the anti-competitive impact of the merger, and chairman Kevin Martin and commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. Column
• Martin may ask commissioners to require VoIP service providers to begin delivering 911 calls to the appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP) by September. Article
• Shortly after a large gathering of telco executives sang "Happy Birthday" to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, he said that taxing VoIP systems was a good idea. Article
• Happy 10th Anniversary to the Telecommunications Act of 1996! It's a day late, but I bet we're still the first. Yesterday, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and his cohorts got together to discuss the Act, which they said was 62 years in the making. Article

For more on Martin:
- see this blurb in WirelessWeek