The Obama administration has named a former Sprint Nextel executive, Anna Gomez, to serve as deputy director of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which will handle as much as $6.65 billion in new stimulus wireless and broadband grants that will be available to Sprint and its competitors.
Gomez, former vice president of government affairs with Sprint, is currently acting director of NTIA, which influences the president's telecom policy within the Commerce Department.
NTIA spokesman Bart Forbes said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that Gomez understands that the public has "every right to be concerned about her role in a potential broadband grant program," because of her history with Sprint. "She is discussing this with the ethics office and will look to remove herself from the decision-making process" for grant applications where appropriate, he said.
For more:
- see the WSJ (sub. req.)
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